Conflicts and Lies
by kibaxkaori
Summary: Itachi's dying words cause Sasuke to rush back to Konoha. As Madara involves himself, betrayals come alive, but what will Naruto choose to do? SasuNaru with other pairings.
1. And the Two Ravens Spoke of Death

**1**

_Damn Madara. And damn the elders, too._

Sasuke leapt from branch to branch through the crowded forest to the village of Konoha with the other three members of Team Hawk. Sasuke in front, then Karin and Juugo, while Suigetsu stayed at the rear of the group.

He was distracted, to say the least. He knew he was beginning to scare his teammates, too, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. His mind kept replaying the last few minutes he'd spent with his brother. The conversation ran over and over in his head and he tried to block the anger and grief and confusion the confrontation had caused from his mind.

**xXx**

He'd finally won, finally beaten his brother. It hadn't come without cost, and he certainly couldn't say that he was satisfied with what had happened, but he'd finally accomplished his life's goal. He'd killed the only family he had left.

And now, Itachi was telling him – only now, after Sasuke had killed him – the story that would have explained everything. The story that would have made Sasuke give up on his quest for his brother's blood.

"Don't blame Konoha for the fall of our clan, Sasuke. I know Orochimaru must have told you that the council ordered me to carry the mission out, but the one who was really behind it… it was Uchiha Madara." Sasuke raised a questioning brow, but his brother couldn't have seen it; he could barely raise his head.

"He saw an opportunity and molded the situation to his desire. He knew our father would have opposed his plans, and our clan with him, so he decided that we were in the way…" Itachi said quietly.

His brother's blood was slowly dripping down from an outstretched hand, into the chasm that huge chunks of upturned rocks had created. He lay on the largest platform, a testament to the battle that had taken place only moments ago. More blood dripped down the elder Uchiha's face, and his clothes were near tatters. Itachi coughed roughly for a moment. It shook his frame, those coughs, and Sasuke almost winced. Almost.

He stood over Itachi, nearly as injured, but refusing to rest on the ground. His stupid pride refused him that relief, even as he called himself a fool over and over in his mind, regret pooling hotly in his chest. He almost didn't want to hear this. He didn't want to hear that he had killed one of the two people who had always been there for him. He'd always had doubts, deep in his heart. But he'd buried them without a second thought, betraying his only family, the one person who had always deserved his trust.

He knew that the man in front of him had only minutes to live, and he would listen to his brother's confessions until that time was through. Even if it killed him inside. He wanted to hear his brother's reasoning from his own mouth and, of course, he wanted to know who this Uchiha Madara was. He needed to know who exactly he needed to kill after this. It would help to figure out how exactly this man, supposedly long-since dead if it was who Sasuke thought it was, managed to destroy one of the most powerful clans in the ninja world.

"…Madara turned to the council and managed to manipulate them with his Sharingan. Soon after, they called me to the task of exterminating our clan. I declined when they first gave me the assignment; I couldn't see why the Uchiha were considered such a threat. But they incessantly assured me that Father was the leader of a major coup d'état by the Uchiha clan and showed me evidence of his treachery."

Itachi shook his head, almost apologetically, and turned his head with difficulty to look straight into his little brother's now dark, Sharingan-less eyes. "You know how I was back then; I accepted everything the leaders said as the undeniable truth. I never thought to verify the evidence as the real thing. So I accepted the mission and, a month later, I led the massacre of our clan that night and fled Konoha, as had been prearranged."

"Wait." Sasuke interrupted. "Led? Konoha said you were the only one involved."

"…that's almost true. I was the one who began the attack, but I refused to kill everyone. The children, for example, were innocent of their parents' crimes. The council suspected what I planned and sent others to kill those who were left while I was trying to…to fool you. I thought I'd gotten away with it, but when I left our home…"

Sasuke grimaced and he felt his anger towards Konoha rise, before he reminded himself that the massacre was apparently the work of only a few. He took a deep breath and kept listening. Itachi seemed lost in the past.

"Two years after that I joined Akatsuki. I learned, from piecing together the information I gathered during my travels, that I had been tricked by the council, or rather, through them, by Madara. There had indeed been a plan for a coup d'état but it hadn't involved the entire clan, and my actions had been almost totally unnecessary.

"While I was with the Akatsuki, I discovered many things about Uchiha Madara. Until recently, he has only directed Akatsuki from the background, masquerading as one of its members under a different name. He is consumed with jealousy and greed, but he's all the more powerful for it. He craves power, which eventually led him to search for the Bijuu, which are under control of the Jinchuuriki."

Sasuke's eyes widened just a little, but Itachi caught it. He nodded at his little brother's understanding. Then he stopped and winced as he clutched at his side, which was still bleeding from a deep slash Sasuke had dealt him with his blade, but Itachi took a few deep breaths and continued as if nothing had happened.

"Because our father had been a friend of the Yondaime Hokage and wanted to respect his wishes for the Uzumaki boy to be protected, he would have most definitely gone against Madara's plan to use the Uchiha clan's blood-line limit to gain control of the nine-tails. That was why Madara saw Fugaku and the Uchiha loyal to him as a threat to his plan."

Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger, wanting nothing more than to turn back time and make sure none of this ever happened. But he knew it wouldn't happen. It made the little boy inside him who had never quite grown up cry to see his older brother lying so pitifully upon the ground. This whole mess could have been prevented if only he'd just…but, no, there was no use in wishing for something that could never happen.

"I do not regret what I've done, Otouto, I have finally paid my dues. But…"Sasuke looked away and studied the ground. With a knowing, almost sad tone, Itachi continued, "I was told only moments before I came to find you here; you might be too late to stop him from taking another person from you, but I can help you try."

Sasuke looked up sharply and stared at him, somewhat confused. "What are you saying, Itachi?"

"Madara is moving to take possession of Uzumaki Naruto."

"What!?" Sasuke gasped out. Itachi answered his obvious surprise with a slight smile.

"Do you remember Mother telling us about the attack on Konoha by the Kyuubi, Sasuke?" Without waiting for an answer, though Sasuke nodded, Itachi continued. "I learned that Madara was the one who provoked the fox into attacking Konoha. He wanted the fox to be sealed away because he couldn't control it fully otherwise. He wanted a tool that would bend easily to his will. He initiated this plan long ago, but all of his pieces have been in place for quite a while. He's only been waiting for the right opportunity.

"The remainder of the Akatsuki has started moving towards Konoha and will soon attack. A small army containing ninja from Oto and some of the smaller hidden villages who oppose Konoha accompany them as well. And while the attack goes on…" Itachi trailed off.

"Madara plans to lure Naruto from the village and into his trap…" Sasuke completed the thought, and then continued with a thought of his own. "How is Madara still alive? I thought he died in his fight with the First Hokage." he asked his brother slowly.

"You know about... Orochimaru's soul transfers?" Sasuke nodded, he knew them too well, having nearly been Orochimaru's new body. "Madara's are something like that... only more stable." He paused as a wave of pain apparently ravaged him. "Otouto?"

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, not unkindly.

"Come here…" Itachi extended his uninjured arm. It shook, but stayed in the air.

Sasuke stepped closer to his side and knelt down. He saw Itachi's hand move toward his face and he closed his eyes for a moment as an old memory washed through him. He felt a soft flick on his forehead and opened his eyes to see his older brother watching him just as he had, before everything that had happened to their family. As if he would do anything and everything to protect him. Sasuke had never realized it was there before, but now, he knew it must have been, all this time.

Itachi's eyes slowly drifted shut and his body completely stilled. Sasuke felt an itching feeling at his eye and when he put a hand to his cheek his fingers came back red. He faced a momentary panic before he grasped exactly what his brother had just done. When he finally breathed in his next breath, it was shaky.

"Goodbye, Aniki." He rested the hand against his brother's cheek for a moment before standing stiffly and going to rejoin the other members of Team Hawk at Nemure, the village he had left them at.

Sasuke sighed and looked back to where his brother's body had finally found his real brother amidst the mask of cold cruelty, and he was left on his own again. All the same, he had the oddest feeling that something was off, and it had nothing to do with the attack on Konoha.

He turned back to face the distant village in front of him. A sadistic smirk filled with anger began to form at the corners of his mouth. He would save Naruto from the trap he was walking into and he would take some anger out on the oldest living Uchiha while he was at it.

_Once an avenger, always an avenger._

**xXx**

"Hey, Boss, why are we going back to your village now?" Suigetsu asked, interrupting his quiet leader's thoughts.

"To assist Konoha in repelling enemy forces." The Uchiha replied simply.

Suigetsu didn't push for a more in depth explanation simply because he knew he wouldn't get one. Besides, if he asked again, Sasuke would probably murder him, teammates or not, and he'd probably enjoy doing it, considering the dark mood he was in. Karin, on the other hand, decided to test his patience.

"But why bother going back, especially if it's to help them? I thought you hated Konoha." She was tired and ill-tempered. Her irritation was a result of giving Sasuke some of her healing chakra, and although she constantly and enthusiastically hailed the man as one of the greatest men in existence, she just couldn't understand his reasoning for returning to the place that had abandoned him to Orochimaru's clutches. Even if it had been his choice to begin with, no one deserved to be left to that.

"I left because they couldn't train me well enough, I didn't hate Konoha." Sasuke muttered, suddenly thinking back to that day. When he and Naruto had fought.

Suddenly, Juugo changed the topic, wrenching him away from unhappy thoughts. "What do you want us to do when we get there?" He dodged a low-hanging branch as he spoke.

Sasuke blinked and thought for a moment. "If the battle is ongoing then you will split up and reinforce the weakest areas. If it has yet to begin, then go and alert the Hokage. She should be able to verify the information soon enough. Do not fight if she tries to detain you and explain that I sent you. If the battle is already over, search for survivors." He said, rattling off the scenarios as if he had been running them through his head the whole time.

"What will you do?" Karin asked.

"Search for Naruto; he's the target of the attack."

"Why? I mean, who's targeting him?" Suigetsu questioned.

Without warning, Sasuke picked up the pace. No one from Team Hawk complained; they were used to it by now. They just pushed more chakra into their jumps and tried to keep up.

"Uchiha Madara" he stated simply in a low, hard voice, not elaborating further.

Karin adopted a curious expression, catching the family name of Uchiha, and began to ask who he was talking about but stopped when she saw the warning look that Juugo threw at her. When she looked more closely at Sasuke, she saw the reason for it; He looked positively murderous, and even she wouldn't weather that mood. For such a young ninja, Sasuke was surely one of the most intimidating of them all when he was mad.

Sasuke was still wearing the outfit from Orochimaru's place, although he had long-since abandoned the Akatsuki cloak. His now long raven-black hair was drawn up at the base of his neck to keep it out of his eyes, almost like how his brother's had been. He had a hand on the hilt of his katana and, if his white knuckles were any clue, he wanted to draw it now. For _any_ reason.

His eyes, though, were all the reason Karin needed to shut up. They were the Mangekyou Sharingan, the eyes his brother had since passed on to him, or so Sasuke had told his team. They were in the form of three, overlapping red-lined, pointed ellipses. Where the colored parts of his eyes were supposed to be, inside the ellipses, they were black. The other parts were red.

She shut her mouth with an almost audible snap and the rest of the journey continued in silence until Sasuke spoke again.

"Mask your chakra; we're almost to Konoha…"

The four entered a clearing and Sasuke's voice trailed off as he looked over the edge of the cliff, which presented a view of Konoha to them as if it were a painting.

"Don't bother. Go find the survivors," was all he said before leaving his three teammates to stare in shock.


	2. And So the Raven Chases the Fox

**2**

Extending out below Tsunade were the remains of her beloved village. Where once there had been large groups of homes and shops, there was now a gargantuan crater. The battle was thankfully over, but she was preoccupied by thoughts of how much damage had been caused in the attack that had only lasted two hours at most.

Only a quarter of the ninja she had sent to counter the attack by Akatsuki and Sound had been found and all of them were injured. Thankfully, the Sound ninja and the minor hidden villages' shinobi had been eradicated quickly, but the Akatsuki, or at least what remained of it, had wrought havoc.

Their attackers had first been spotted shortly after noon. There had been four figures in black cloaks with red clouds standing at the head of the small army just outside the forest of trees that Konoha was nestled in. Tobi, Zetsu and Kisame were the first to be recognized right off as they had been described from various encounters with Leaf shinobi. When five figures, who looked very similar to the fourth Akatsuki member standing to the right of Tobi, suddenly appeared in different areas of the village at the same time, it was assumed that he was Pein, who Jiraiya had warned them about shortly before his death.

The forces led by the Akatsuki attacked sloppily and at random, and caused a great deal of damage on their own, but after Pein created the crater she now stood over, the other three - Kisame, Zetsu, and Tobi - all suddenly disappeared from the battle field.

Her summons, Katsuyu, informed her that many of her ninja had lost their lives in the attack that caused the central district of Konoha to be obliterated. Suddenly filled with rage after hearing of this, she'd decided to take action. Tsunade had gone herself to confront Pein even though she had spent nearly all of her chakra sending it to Katsuyu to help heal anyone she could. She knew she was being foolish, but she needed to do something, frustrated at the feeling of helplessness that had washed over her. When she'd come face to face with him, he had questioned her and apparently she'd aggravated him by not telling him where Naruto was.

To be short, one of the Peins rushed at her, and, at the very same moment, Naruto appeared.

The blond had grown stronger… so much so that he had crushed the first Pein in one blow. After that, he'd convinced her, without much trouble, to stand down, and he'd proceeded to take on the rest of the Peins by himself. She had looked on in amazement from the place she'd taken atop Hokage Tower, which had amazingly remained intact. In a matter of a few minutes, and with the help of some of his toad summons, Naruto had taken out all but the final Pein.

After trading a few blows and, of course, quite a few Rasengans, Pein seemed to become impatient and, as she felt a huge blast of chakra, Naruto, along with much of the ground he'd been standing on, was sucked towards an enormous sphere in the sky that was being built of surrounding debris. And then, she'd watched, transfixed in horror as she felt the chakra of the Kyuubi burst through its seal and Naruto began to transform into the Demon-Fox. The fox tails began to form and she cringed as she saw the skin peeling from Naruto's body.

She had nearly collapsed from the feeling of despair that had filled her. That Konoha had nearly survived two great attacks only to be ravaged again by the Demon-Fox was something she couldn't bear to think about. If the demon escaped, there would be no stopping it.

But then, just as the ninth tail was about to emerge, the chakra surrounding Naruto contracted suddenly, leaving a whole and fully healed, Naruto in its place. She couldn't see his face from where she stood on the ruins of Hokage tower, of course, but she could feel his chakra and she'd _known _he was _mad_. She'd suddenly felt very light-hearted and cheered for him at the top of her lungs.

And only moments later, Naruto had finished the battle with a huge Rasen Shuriken, surprising his enemy and destroying any chance that Pein might still be able to move. He stood over what remained of Pein for a while until he began to walk away from the huge crater and from the village. She tried to go after him but her legs failed her and she was caught by the Anbu that was standing close behind her.

"Tsunade-sama, I think he needs to deal with whatever else he has to on his own. He'll be back if he has to crawl here." Sai lifted his mask and smiled. "Besides, you're needed here."

Tsunade stared at Sai for a moment then nodded. The two of them watched Naruto disappear into the forest surrounding what remained of Konoha, never once looking back. Regardless of Sai's statement, Tsunade felt like something bad was going to happen soon. Looking at her newly wrinkled hand, she thought to herself:

_And I don't think I'll be able to do anything to stop it._

**xXx**

Sasuke darted through the village searching for the blond.

He and his team had arrived during the end of the fight between Pein and Naruto and had been able to see it from the hill they'd arrived at, but he hadn't been able to make it in time to intervene, though he'd rushed to the site of the battle. He'd only just been able to witness Naruto push back the influence of the Demon-Fox's chakra and the massive attack Naruto had finished Pein off with, yet he had still been almost a mile away. He'd wondered at what the attack had been but he'd pushed back his curiosity when he realized that Naruto had left the battlefield.

As he searched, Sasuke saw the many ruins. He averted his eyes as he saw the bodies, some of them crushed under the fallen houses and some burned beyond recognition. Finally, however, he reached the outskirts of the gigantic crater that now occupied most of Konoha. Regardless of what had caused the crater, nothing in the immediate area had survived; there were no plants or houses, only rock and rubble.

Looking away from ruins, the first thing that entered his sight was the monument that was carved into the side of the mountains surrounding Konoha, depicting the previous Hokages, which had miraculously survived the onslaught. The very next thing he noticed was a figure standing atop Hokage tower. Looking more closely, he found that the figure was indeed the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade. She was staring at him, apparently recognizing him.

Sasuke thought for a moment. He had no idea where Naruto had gone, so maybe it was time to pay a visit to the Fifth Hokage.

**xXx**

She was extremely annoyed.

She'd been staring at the spot where Naruto had disappeared from; thinking about what she should do now that everything had quieted down and was being brought under control. Then, she'd seen, movement out of the corner of her eye. She directed her gaze towards it and scowled in surprised recognition.

"Uchiha..." She growled and glared at him though she was pretty sure he could not see it. She kept the look in place; just in case. The reason? She just didn't like the brat.

The Uchiha had abandoned the village for nothing more than power. That was enough reason to dislike him on its own merit, but then he had hurt Naruto. _That _simply wasn't acceptable.

She saw Sasuke notice her presence atop the tower and watched as he dodged his way through the rubble of Konoha towards her. Too soon, she was face-to-face with the arrogant brat.

"Tsunade…" Sasuke acknowledged her with a nod of the head. She didn't remember ever meeting him before, but Orochimaru must have told him about her.

"What are you doing here? Did you have a part in this?" She questioned harshly as she gestured at the village below them.

**xXx**

A flash of anger washed through him, but he managed to keep any expression of it from reaching his face.

"You honestly think that I would come back only to destroy my home? You must really hate me." Sasuke scowled suddenly. There was no time for this. "But no, I only just got here. My brother, Itachi, informed me that there would be an attack on Konoha led by Madara."

"Madara? _Uchiha_ Madara? I thought he was dead." Tsunade answered back.

"I thought so, too, but, apparently, he has the ability to use a higher level soul transfer than even Orochimaru."

"And where did you learn that from, Uchiha-gaki?"

"Itachi told me." Sasuke answered simply, ignoring her use of his name.

"So where is Itachi? And why would he tell you this? Wasn't he working with the Akatsuki who just attacked our home?"

"I don't have to tell you anything and we don't have the time for it! Where is Naruto? He is the one that Madara is targeting."

"What?!" Tsunade asked, surprised. "Why?"

Sasuke sighed and shook his head, looking exasperated, like it was obvious. "What else would he want the dobe for? Madara wants the Kyuubi. Now, where. Is. He?" He emphasized harshly.

"He left a little while ago after his battle with Pein and went that way," She pointed, disgruntled, in the direction that Naruto had disappeared in. "But I don't know where he was going."

"Damn it! I'm too late." Sasuke began to run and just as he was preparing to jump to the roof of a house that had miraculously escaped destruction, he paused.

"My team is in Konoha, searching for survivors. Try not to kill them." Tsunade nodded.

Then, Sasuke turned to chase after Naruto in the direction Tsunade had given him. He felt great irony in the situation and the fact that he was the one chasing Naruto this time and not the other way around. But he felt he now had a glimpse of how Naruto had felt for all these years.

Helpless.


	3. And the Fox Falls Into the Trap

**3**

Naruto carefully avoided any scouts he sensed, friend and foe alike, not wanting to be troubled with convincing them not to follow him, as he darted between the trees and maneuvered his way around roots that protruded from the ground and low-hanging tree-limbs.

He'd already sent Katsuyu back to Tsunade, figuring that she would need all the chakra she could get and he didn't want to waste it. At the moment, Naruto was already almost three quarters of the way there and he knew that by the time Tsunade heard what he was planning from Katsuyu he would already have found Pein. She wouldn't be able to send him any backup and that sounded fine to him. He didn't want anyone else getting hurt on his account.

He was suddenly wrenched from his thoughts as he sensed a group of three scouts coming his way. He stopped and dove into a thick bush that provided some cover and suppressed his chakra until they passed.

He could've taken them out, but then he wouldn't have had enough chakra to face Pein if it came to a fight. Naruto jumped to a branch about ten feet up and, from there, jumped from branch to branch towards Pein's chakra signature. He would let Kyuu take over the fight if he had to.

**xXx**

Sasuke was amazed at how well Naruto hid his trail.

Even with the Sharingan, which he could use amplify his already superb tracking skills (not to brag, of course), he could barely pick up on the blond. It was like tracking a regular villager, because he could barely see any chakra remnants. No one else, except for maybe trackers like Kiba and Akamaru or perhaps someone with the Byakugan, would have been able to find a trace of him.

Sasuke followed what he could of Naruto's trail until it suddenly disappeared. After about a minute of looking around, he picked it up again, finding remnants of chakra in the form of light impressions of steps on the branches of the trees above him. As he pursued it, the trail switched back and forth a many more times between the branches and the ground.

However, he was fairly sure that they were getting close to wherever Naruto was going, because the trail wasn't switching between the trees and the ground anymore. Naruto was running in a straight shot along the ground and was either slowing down or already at his destination; the trail was becoming fresher with every step Sasuke took.

**xXx**

Naruto slowly stepped into Pein's hideout, which turned out to be a large paper tree, through a hole that had opened in the side when he arrived. It closed behind him and he stood there for brief rest, looking around and scanning for traps, talking to Kyuubi all the while.

She'd managed to heal most of his smaller cuts and bruises as they had traveled, even though she was irritated at Naruto for not allowing her to come out to destroy the last Pein clone.

_**I still don't see why you couldn't have let me play, kit. **_The fox muttered unhappily.

_And if I _had_ let you? You would have destroyed what was left of the village!_

_**So?**_ In the cage within his mind, he could see the Kyuubi pouting and if he hadn't been trying to talk seriously to her, Naruto would have burst out laughing. She rarely pouted and it was a strange sight.

_So, I don't want you to destroy the village. Do you really want to have a reputation worse than you already do?_ Naruto replied, trying to reason with her. He'd said as much many times before, but she never seemed to remember it.

_**Not particularly…**_ she said.

_Then why don't you try to help the village for once? Maybe they'll eventually make a holiday celebrating when you saved them instead of when you were sealed away and removed from their lives._

Naruto had grown to know the fox fairly well in the past few years and knew a few of her wishes, those besides getting free of Naruto, at least, and this was one of them. The thing was, Kyuubi wanted to be loved, or at least revered. Not hated or feared like she was now. But even if that was really true, he had yet to figure out why she had attacked the village in the first place, because she would never answer his questions about her past.

_**Yeah… you're right… **_She mumbled

_What was that? I didn't catch it._ Naruto thought, grinning inwardly, still on the lookout externally.

_**I said: YOU'RE RIGHT! **_She sent Naruto reeling with her internal shout and he had to struggle to withhold his giggles.

She sighed. _**You're so immature, kit.**_

_Yeah, yeah. Why don't we get back to dealing with Pein now?_

_**Fine, kit.**_

Having nearly triple-checked that the way was clear during his short conversation with Kyuu, Naruto walked down a narrow hallway and into a very large room. There he found the last Pein waiting for him. He was attached to a strange device and looked emaciated. From the waist up, Pein's chest was bare and the top half of his cloak was hanging at his waist over the belt that normally held it closed. Konan was standing behind him in the cloak that basically declared she was a member of the Akatsuki**.**

"Pein. Have you decided to surrender?"

"Do you really think I would?" Pein smiled amusedly and Naruto shrugged.

"I'm not sure."

**xXx**

Sasuke came upon Naruto just as he entered the paper tree. He tried to reach him but he was too far away to get to him before the opening closed. He growled in frustration. He studied the surface of the tree and then began to concentrate chakra into his hand, creating controlled lightening, not unlike the Chidori, although it was of a lower intensity.

He jabbed his hand forward and the moment it and the surface of the tree met, the paper began to sizzle and burn, creating a rapidly expanding hole for him to enter through. When he released the Chidori and stepped into the tree, he found an empty hallway.

Sasuke sighed. He had hoped that Naruto would still be on the other side of the paper wall, but that must have been too much to ask for. He sighed again and suffused his feet with chakra so that he could walk quietly and not be discovered as he moved down the hallway, cautious for traps.

As he reached the end of it without incident, he found that the hallway opened up into a massive room, the size of one of the larger training grounds in Konoha. And in the middle of it stood three figures, apparently engrossed in conversation. One of them was Naruto, who was facing away from him and who had evidently not sensed his chakra yet. If he had, he likely would have turned towards him by now.

The other two must have been Pein and Konan, if he remembered the descriptions given to him by Kabuto correctly. They were positioned so that they couldn't have _not_ seen him but they didn't alert Naruto to Sasuke's presence. They must have assumed that he was with Naruto…

Well, that or they just didn't care.

Sasuke had learned many things about the Akatsuki from Orochimaru, since his recently deceased mentor had once been part of the group. He'd learned most of its members' names and abilities as well as Akatsuki's goals. He knew that Konan was the paper master who had created this entire place. Moreover, he knew that no one besides Konan knew what Pein's full powers were. He decided to stay back for a bit.

As he was still at the entryway into the room and the three of them were almost on the other side of the room, he was too far away from them to hear most of the conversation but Sasuke was pretty sure as to what the conversation involved. It was the same as usual; Naruto had done that on every major mission they'd ever gone on. Trying to turn his enemy into a friend. The only person it had really worked on was Zabuza, and that had been met with very limited success. Namely, the man's death.

_It's not going to work, dobe, you'll only hurt yourself._

After a few more minutes, he was quickly becoming tired of waiting and was beginning to reconsider reading their lips with his Sharingan, chakra loss or not. But by the time he finally decided to activate his Sharingan, Pein suddenly lifted his hands to form one hand sign after another.

Naruto tensed at the action and Sasuke's eyes immediately spun with the Sharingan, but Konan just stood behind Pein, staring at him, almost sorrowfully. By the tilt of Naruto's head, Sasuke could tell that he had directed a questioning glance at her.

"He's not attacking you." She said. There was a pause and Sasuke could guess what Naruto had asked when she answered. "Watch and see. No harm will befall you. Quite the opposite actually."

Naruto believed her, apparently, because his muscles relaxed. Sasuke was not as easily convinced; he held his stance. Suddenly a bright light shot from Pein, filling the room the room. Sasuke withheld a grunt of pain as it momentarily blinded his enhanced eyes. When his eyes recovered, he saw a barely breathing Pein lying on the floor.

"What did he do?" Naruto shouted, rushing to the man's side.

"Your friends, the ones killed in our attack, are now back among the living." Sasuke read Pein's lips as he spoke slowly. "My dreams of peace are now yours. I pass them onto you." He breathed his last words. Konan's paper slowly encased Pein's body.

"His dreams were my dreams, Uzumaki-kun. Please take care of them." She said.

He nodded slowly and she slowly walked towards the exit of the room with Pein's body in tow.

_Well I'll be damned. It actually worked this time._ Sasuke shook his head in disbelief. He began to step forward to alert the now stiff-backed Naruto to his presence but stopped when a cold voice rang throughout the room.

"Hello, Uzumaki-kun, I do hope you'll be staying for a while."

Two words ran through Sasuke's mind as his Sharingan spun.

_Uchiha Madara._


	4. A New Raven Flies From the Shadows

**4**

"_Hello, Uzumaki-kun. I do hope you'll be staying for a while."_

The first thing Naruto thought as he heard those words and felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise was,

_Now what?_

Across the room, he saw Konan stopped walking and they both turned towards the source of the voice to find a tall man standing against the wall to Naruto's left. There was an orange mask covering everything but one eye and he wore the same uniform as the members of Akatsuki did.

_So he's in the Akatsuki too?_

_**No.**_Kyuubi growled. _**This one is stronger than any of them.**_

_You know him?_ He asked her, alarmed at her sudden ferocity.

_**Madara.**_She growled out**.** Naruto had the momentary thought that pulling answers from the Kyuubi was a very hard thing to do.

_Who_?

_**An Uchiha. He holds a Sharingan.**_

_What?! But I thought all the Uchiha except for Sasuke and Itachi were all dead!_

_**This isn't just any Uchiha. He's one of the blasted founders of Konoha…grrr…I knew I should have killed him when I had the chance!**_

_Wait! _That_ Madara?! When did you meet him? I thought he was dead._

She ignored his questions. _**Be very careful. This man is dangerous even to me.**_

Even without her warning, he knew that he should be wary. Naruto could feel the man's power practically pouring off him. His body had already subconsciously settled into a fighting stance.

_**Do you want me to come out? You can't take him alone.**_

_No. Don't come out until I'm in real trouble. I want to see his abilities first._

She growled again, baring her fangs. _**Don't be foolish. You know you can't take him in the state you're in.**_

_Yeah, Yeah. Let me see what he wants first. Although I doubt he's here to talk._

_**Be careful, Kit.**_He nodded internally.

"Who are you?" he asked loudly.

The man tilted his head but stayed silent.

"He's Tobi, the person me and Pein reported to. The real leader of the Akatsuki." Konan answered in his stead and then directed a question at him. "Why are you here? Weren't you going to wait at headquarters for us to bring back the Jinchuuriki?"

_Tobi?_ Naruto thought questioningly, but Kyuubi didn't answer him.

The man, Tobi apparently, chuckled darkly. "And a lot of good that would have done me." Konan flinched. "And to answer your question, Naruto, my real name is Uchiha Madara, not Tobi."

_So he really is Madara._

_**Kit, I don't like this.**_

_Why? Are you scared?_ Naruto teased. In the back of his mind, anxiety roiled, messing with his nerves. Seconds ago, Kyuubi was ready to fight, now she was changing her mind? What could possibly be so scary to such an ancient demon? But Naruto kept his thoughts to himself.

Kyuubi scoffed. _**No. I just don't think that we'll be winning this fight too easily.**_

_I don't either, but even if we tried to leave do you really think he'd let us?_

_**True enough…**_

"Uzumaki-kun? Is Kyuubi talking to you about me?" Madara questioned with a tilted head.

Naruto just stayed silent. He wasn't sure how to answer.

"Heh… I guess that's a yes."

"What do you want, Madara?" Naruto said, growling slightly.

"You should already know the answer to that, demon vessel." The man stressed the last two words, confirming Naruto's fears.

"Yeah… I was just checking."

_**Yep, t**__**hat's a no on the 'letting us go' part, Kit. What are you gonna do?**_

_Why don't _you_ try to think of something, instead of leaving it up to me? If he gets us, we both die._

_**How about run?**_

_Geez… I didn't know you were such a coward. And, no, I don't think running's an option either._

Kyuubi only mumbled.

**xXx**

Sasuke watched from the hallway as Madara called out to Naruto.

He was very surprised (and not in a good way) to find that Madara was far more powerful than he had originally thought. Sasuke read Konan's lips as she explained who Madara was to Naruto. He had immediately known who the man was, considering he knew what the situation was. He had been a little confused at first, since the woman had used the name Tobi instead of Madara, but then he understood when Madara corrected her and introduced himself. Despite the mask, the man's voice carried further than one would think.

He saw Naruto slide into a slight fighting stance when Madara appeared. The blond ninja tensed moments later when Madara questioned him about Kyuubi and guessed that Naruto's demon had told him the danger he was facing.

He caught a flicker of movement at his feet and looked down. There was a line of papers with writing being formed on them. Sasuke looked up at Konan and saw that she was looking straight at him. She nodded her head at the papers at his feet and he looked down to read the sentence written there.

_You are a friend of Uzumaki-kun's, are you not? Shake or nod your head in answer. _Sasuke hesitated a second before he nodded his head.

_Good. Madara is here to take the nine-tails. I cannot let that happen. We must protect him._

He nodded his head again. Sasuke was marveling at the quick change in allegiances but he read on as more words were formed.

_I can bring this place down on top of him but we have to get Uzumaki-kun out of here first. I will leave that up to yo-_

Sasuke's attention was taken from the paper at his feet as he felt a large surge in chakra. As he looked up, he realized that it was coming from Naruto.

He couldn't tell where the blond got it from. Naruto should have been out of chakra and it didn't feel like Kyuubi's. It didn't even remotely feel like it belonged to Naruto.

It seemed that he'd become stronger than the last time they'd met.

Much stronger.

**xXx**

_Well, since he's not going to let us go without a fight, why don't we bring the fight to him?_

_**That's fine with me. Let's get this over with.**_She sounded unsettled.

_I only had enough time to build up enough energy on the way here for one sage mode._

_**Yeah…I know**_

Naruto shifted forward slightly. At least he knew how to approach Madara. Because he'd searched for and fought against Sasuke and also because he had a Sharingan-user as a sensei, he'd had many experiences going head to head with the Sharingan. But then, that was about the only thing going for him.

"Are you planning to fight me?" Madara asked. He sounded amused.

In answer, Naruto activated his sage mode.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Several Naruto clones came into existence and began to rush towards Madara with shuriken and kunai in hand. They spread out as they reached him.

Two came at him from the back, two from the front, and one each from the left and right. One of the clones jumped into the air above Madara and pulled out a kunai with a paper tag attached while the other six suddenly launched their weapons at their target.

Madara flipped backwards over the two behind him, grabbing the kunai and six-bladed shuriken that were aimed at him as he went. He quickly sent the weapons back at their owners and dispatched two clones. As they disappeared in a cloud of smoke he turned on his heel fluidly to avoid another barrage from the remaining five.

The Naruto that had pulled the paper bomb suddenly slung it at Madara. As he did this, the clones on the ground all jumped at the Uchiha and tried to pin him down, but Madara simply jumped backwards once again and the clones all disappeared as the bomb exploded where he had been moments ago.

_Oi… this bastard's quick._

As Madara landed, two more Narutos appeared, seemingly from nowhere, holding twin Rasengans.

"This is a fun warm-up, Naruto-kun. But is this actually your best?" Madara asked as he placed his hands on top of the wrists of the two hands holding the Rasengans and directed their attacks at each other. They too disappeared in puffs of smoke.

"Not yet!" the original Naruto appeared above him with a Rasen Shuriken. Madara looked up at him seemingly lazily, and then suddenly disappeared.

_Where'd he go?!_

_**Behind you, Kit!**_

"Shit!" he muttered. He tried to turn with his attack still in hand but Madara's fist suddenly appeared in his line of sight and made contact with his left cheek. Naruto's Rasen Shuriken dissipated along with his natural chakra as he was thrown across the room against a solid wall of paper.

Naruto groaned silently, unable to make a sound with all the air suddenly gone from his lungs. Clutching at his stomach out of reflex from the impact against the wall, he rolled to his side on the floor. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Madara walking towards him casually. He struggled to his feet.

"You're going to accompany me whether you like it or not. Just give up." the man stated. Combined with his mask, the effect that his stoic words had was frightening. But it only made Naruto's hackles rise. Like a wild animal who had been cornered.

Naruto pulled out his last kunai and charged him. "Fuck you!"

Madara sighed. "Fine. We'll do it your way."

He put his hands together and quickly formed a series of hand signs. The fingers of his right hand began to glow. Madara ducked inside of Naruto's swing and brought his hand to the blond's stomach.

"Five-pronged seal!"

Naruto went flying backwards and crashed into the paper wall once again, but he was up faster this time. He made a hand sign and… nothing happened.

"Huh? What happened?" Naruto asked, confused as to why his chakra was not responding. He vaguely remembered the same attack being used on him before… and the same effects.

"I sealed your little fox away so you can't make this fight any harder than it needs to be. By using my seal on top of the pre-existing one your own chakra is unbalanced," Madara explained as he studied his manicured nails mockingly."Therefore making my job that much easier."

Naruto growled. "Arrogant bastard!" he lunged at the man in front of him again. He was thrown back again.

With great effort, Naruto managed to get up once again, panting heavily.

_What do we do now, Kyuu?_

_**I don't know, Kit. But he's right. I can't help you out of this one. I could overpower the seal, but you'd be knocked unconscious.**_

_Damn! _Naruto cursed a few more times in his mind before coming back to reality and warily watching Madara come closer to him.

"Now. I think it's about time that you took a little nap." Madara raised his fist to strike.

Naruto just stood there. He was too exhausted to put up any resistance without chakra reinforcing his movements and he swayed on his feet as he waited for the blow, but it never came. Hearing a fleshy-sounding clank of metal against a human body, he opened his eyes to see the figure of a man with a katana in hand standing before him. Madara's bare fist lay against the flat of the blade.

"You were just going to let yourself get hit? That's not the dobe I know." came a familiar voice.

Naruto's eyes widened. He guessed that he'd been so focused on Pein and Madara that he hadn't even thought to check for other ninja in the area.

As he recognized the countenance of the man that stood in front of him the name came out in a soft whisper of disbelief.

"Sasuke…"


	5. And So the Real Fight Begins

**5**

He watched as Naruto attacked Madara. Seeing it all from an outside view, it seemed as if Naruto was aiming one lethal attack after another and Madara was just effortlessly flaunting the differences in strength in the blond's face.

Sasuke looked for openings to join in the fight but he could find none that would not distract Naruto and give Madara a chance to attack. Not that the masked Uchiha couldn't attack already. The man was using the least effort he could and was still easily dodging Naruto's clones' barrage of shuriken and kunai and even the Rasengans. Madara even seemed to be having fun with it while Naruto was getting more irritated by the moment. Finally, Sasuke saw a subtle shift in the way Madara was holding himself. Soon after that, Naruto went flying across the room and landed against the wall, hard.

Sasuke turned and glared at Konan as if saying:

_You couldn't have softened his landing a little?_

She shook her head and mouthed, '_Too fast. I can't see them.'_ at him. She was edging her way around to his side as Madara and Naruto moved further away from them and to the other side of Konan's constructed paper building.

Sasuke growled but turned back to the fight. He saw Naruto charge at Madara with a kunai in hand. Madara made a series hand signs that he recognized.

_That's what Orochimaru used on Naruto during the Chuunin exams! _Sasuke began to move towards the two, but it was too late. Naruto went flying against the wall again. He got up a little faster than last time, but when he tried to summon a clone, and nothing happened, Sasuke guessed that the seal had been successful.

Upon discovering this, Naruto once again charged at Madara. His target caught him mid-swing with a roundhouse kick and sent him, once again, flying into the paper wall.

Madara slowly walked towards where Naruto was struggling to stand and raised a fist.

Sasuke was already running. He pulled his Sword of Kusanagi from its sheath and ran some of his chakra through it to strengthen it. Relaxing his arm to reduce the shock of the blow, Sasuke prepared to block Madara's attack as he darted in front of Naruto.

Catching the blow on the flat of the blade to distribute to force more evenly, although he'd been tempted to let Madara punch the bladed edge, his arm numbed. He figured that Naruto would have been unconscious for a very long while had the hit connected. A few seconds of silence passed, during which Sasuke thought it was safe to assume that Madara was glaring at him from behind his mask.

"You were just going to let yourself get hit? That's not the dobe I know." He said quietly to Naruto as he kept his attention on Madara.

"…Sasuke?"

"Who else would I be?" he asked Naruto sarcastically.

Madara backed off a little bit, moving about fifteen feet away, and Sasuke figured he could afford to look back at Naruto. He moved his sword into a position where he could guard against an attack quickly if he needed to.

The blond's face was pale and he was staring at Sasuke with wide, surprised eyes.

"Geez, dobe, not that I expected a welcome back party or anything, but still… isn't that a little much?" The Uchiha asked dryly.

Naruto shook his head as if to clear it of his thoughts.

"I-I'm sorry. It's just that you were the last person I expected to see here…"

"Yeah…well… Itachi told me everything that actually happened. So now Madara is at the top of my 'To Kill' list." Sasuke turned back to the silent man in front of him, hoping that he'd heard the last part of their conversation. He hated repeating himself.

"You met Itachi? What happened?" Naruto asked somewhat nervously. Sasuke wondered if Naruto could possibly know what he'd done, or if the blond would ever forgive him for doing such a monumentally stupid thing. He wasn't even sure if he could forgive himself, and he knew it was something he'd regret for the rest of his life. But then, that would be a rather short period of time if they didn't start paying attention to the surroundings.

"We don't have the time to talk about this now, Naruto. I'll tell you later."

"That's if he has a later, Sasuke-kun. There is very little chance of either of you getting out of here. Alive that is." Madara interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard that so many times it's not funny, and I'm still here aren't I?" Sasuke smirked outwardly, even if he wasn't completely sure that they could take this man on in a fight after watching Naruto fail so miserably. "As far as I'm concerned, you're no different from anyone who's said that before."

Sasuke turned slightly to direct his next words to the silent man behind him. "C'mon, Naruto. We can probably take him if we both work together."

"Ne, Sasuke… I can't use my chakra. It's the same thing Orochimaru used on me before." Naruto said quietly.

"I know. Keep an eye on Madara. Warn me if he comes close." He replied just as quietly, if not more so.

"Fine," Naruto nodded. "But what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to undo the seal he put on you." Foreseeing Naruto's question, Sasuke said, "It was one of the Jutsu Orochimaru taught me."

"At least he was useful for something." Naruto said bitterly. Sasuke didn't try to tell him otherwise.

"Hn."

Out of Madara's sightline, Sasuke performed the necessary hand seals he retrieved from his memory and the tips of his fingers glowed like Madara's had. Except the chakra surrounding Madara's fingers hadn't been blue.

"Stay still." He told Naruto. The blond sucked in a breath as he brought his hand to Naruto's stomach, over the seal Madara had just used, admittedly much more gently. Naruto grunted slightly at the pain but did nothing else.

When Sasuke pulled his hand back, Naruto tested the counterseal as he summoned three clones.

"It worked! Thanks Sasuke!"

"Let's just get this fight over with." He turned back to Madara who hadn't moved an inch, even though he must have known what Sasuke had been doing.

Without any warning, Sasuke moved forward, sword held out to the side behind him, towards Madara. He could see Naruto on his other side along with the three clones that were moving to surround the orange-masked Uchiha in front of them.

With his left hand Sasuke signaled Naruto, hoping he hadn't forgotten their old attack formations. Naruto nodded his head slightly and quickly made another clone that he sent to cover his new comrade, while he himself went to join his clones in jumping Madara.

Meanwhile, Madara just stood in his same spot, seemingly bored. He let the four Narutos grab hold of him.

Sasuke ran his Chidori through his sword and stabbed through Madara's shoulder… and a Naruto clone disappeared with a cry of surprise in a puff of smoke.

_Substitution Jutsu?! When? I didn't even see him move! _Sasuke's eyes widened.

He saw an orange blur at his right side and turned to see Naruto blocking Madara's foot with crossed arms; the back of the blond's head was only a few inches away from his face, his whole body having been pushed back by the force of Madara's attack.

"Sasuke! He's quicker than you think he is!" Naruto grunted at him as Madara jumped back, using his arm as a type of springboard. Naruto stepped back to stand beside Sasuke. He made a significantly larger group of clones and had them attack Madara, although not all at once. It would hold the man back for half a minute at most.

"Sasuke, can you run some of your fire element through my Rasengan?"

"Yeah." Sasuke looked at Naruto with curiosity. "You're not planning to use an attack you just made up in the middle of battle on him are you?"

"Yep!" the blond grinned.

"Still living up to your title as most unpredictable ninja, I see." Sasuke shook his head and Naruto's grin just grew.

"I'm going to make a regular Rasengan then we can both mix our chakras into it. I should be able to keep it stabilized until I use it against Madara. When I do, don't get anywhere near us. I don't know how large the blast radius will be." Naruto told Sasuke as he summoned two clones. He let one make the basic Rasengan and then he told the raven to go ahead and put his fire into it.

"What about you?" he asked as he worked the red chakra into the rapidly spinning ball of chakra.

"Aww… are you worried for me, teme?" Naruto teased.

"Not really, it's just that Tsunade will kill me if I don't bring you back." Sasuke regretted the words even as they formed in his mind, but it had been such a long time since he fought _with_ his friend…he couldn't stop them from leaving his mouth.

"Oh…" A hurt look surfaced for a second in Naruto's eyes. Sasuke almost winced, but the look was gone momentarily. "Well, I'm the one attacking, so most of the blast should be directed at Madara. Until I throw this at him I'll need you to help me distract him."

"Right." Sasuke replied, trying his best not to let anything else stupid slip from his lips.

"Can I be of any assistance?" A voice stated suddenly from behind them. Naruto jumped and turned quickly, almost losing his grip on the new Rasengan. Sasuke, who had sensed her, but not said anything, assuming that Naruto had as well, turned a little more slowly.

"And how would you help, exactly?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.

Konan pointed at Madara who was still fighting off the Naruto clones. There were only two left at this point, but there was an impatient edge to his slight movements. "He can't see you- well, he can- but he doesn't see _you_." She gestured at the two of them. "Nor does he see this strange little attack you've come up with. I've put up a little paper wall that shows him a false image. If he weren't as good at sensing chakra as he is I would've suggested that you use this moment to escape, however, the only reason this trick is working is because you have not moved from this spot."

"Well, that's a neat little trick." Naruto stated.

Sasuke sighed. He'd wondered at why Madara was just letting them have their sweet time with plotting to kill them. Now knowing why, it was something of a relief to have the paper master on their side.

"Well, either way, we know we can't escape. Soon Madara will attack us and find out that we've been tricking him and I can bet he'll not be happy." Naruto said. "Sasuke, Konan, can you two help me keep him distracted?"

"Of course." Konan answered while Sasuke nodded his head.

"Konan, would you be able to keep this wall up around me to hide this jutsu? I can internalize all the run-off chakra so that Madara won't be able to sense my Rasengan, but only so much." Naruto continued. Konan nodded. "Sasuke? Can you get his attention?"

"Yes. What do I need to do?" Sasuke asked.

**xXx**

Naruto was surprised at Sasuke's question. For some reason the two of them were deferring to him. But then, maybe it was because he was the only one with a plan at this particular moment. Naruto almost snorted. Something big must have happened to make the great Sasuke Uchiha listen to Naruto Uzumaki for a change.

"Well, you could always start going on and on about your avenger issues. I remember you saying Madara's at the top of your kill list, so you could always rant about you killing him." He said with a small teasing smile.

Sasuke glared at him.

"_What_? You always managed to do that when you fought with me." Naruto pouted.

Sasuke huffed and turned away. "Isn't that stupid jutsu ready yet?" He asked in an irritated voice, bringing the topic back to the problem at hand. Naruto grinned at Konan and they shared a small smile at Sasuke's reaction to Naruto's teasing as if they were all old friends.

"It will be in a moment." Naruto said. "Move back."

Sasuke nodded and started away. Konan followed him shortly after.

As he watched them move away, Naruto's clone began to feed wind chakra into his new attack. The previously orangish-red color of the miniature spinning fireball turned a whitish-blue color as his wind fed the fire and made it hotter. He had to spare some of his concentration to mold some of the wind chakra around his arm to protect it from the heat, which made him struggle to keep the fire from breaking his hold on it and burning out of control.

It took a full minute to finally gain the control he needed over the jutsu and during that time he silently thanked Konan for the cover her wall provided. If Madara had been able to see what they were doing he would have stepped in immediately, he was sure. However, Naruto did wonder what the man was seeing.

"Are you done planning now, Uzumaki-kun? You can't just stand there forever. Planning will only do so much good." Well, that explained away some of his curiosity. His clones were all gone now, and he couldn't spare his attention at the moment, but he suddenly imagined Madara standing there tapping his foot and waiting for the three of them to declare war on him, or something. Yeah, definitely 'or something'.

Before he answered Madara he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. With a hand behind her back, Konan was motioning him to stay silent. He did. Konan stopped not too far away from him while Sasuke kept moving. He settled into a battle stance about ten feet away from Madara. The older Uchiha's eyes settled onto his relative.

"Ah, so you don't deign to answer me, Uzumaki-kun? That's fine. I will just deal with this child before I play with you. We will see just whose eyes work better. Perhaps I will take your eyes too, little Uchiha."

"Just try it." Sasuke said harshly. "At least mine weren't stolen."

"Really? And you think you can beat me because your brother gave you your Mangekyou willingly?" Madara reached up to his mask. "I haven't even been using my Sharingan. Do you truly think you can best me while I _am_ using it?" he pulled the orange mask from his face and opened his eyes to reveal his kekkei genkai. Sasuke practically hissed as the red eyes opened and focused entirely on him.

Madara had skin just as pale as Sasuke's, if not paler, and just like the younger Uchiha, had raven black hair. He looked a quite a bit like Sasuke, actually. But unlike Sasuke, Madara had short-cropped hair that stuck up in spikes almost like Naruto's unruly hair. The man's eyes commanded attention. The irises were red while his pupil and the ring that surrounded it were black. There were three bars extending from the outer ring and there were small, black circles lying on the ring between each of the bars.

Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment. He felt a sudden itching sensation then reopened his eyes to reveal his own Mangekyou, which spun lazily, like his original Sharingan.

Madara seemed unimpressed, at least until Sasuke activated his bloodline limit and began to attack the older man's mind, trying to plant a genjutsu within it. The expression of condescending amusement melted into that of concentration. Regardless of experience, Sasuke was an overwhelming opponent. Madara was not foolish enough to let his guard down even for a second. The two Uchihas faced off in the middle of the room as they tried to penetrate the others defenses with their respective Mangekyou Sharingans and place the other in a genjutsu.

"You can't trap me, Sasuke-kun."

"Then I'll just have to kill you!" Sasuke darted forward, katana in hand. He ran his Chidori through the length of the blade and jabbed it forward to meet…nothing but air. Surprised, Sasuke halted his forward motion for a moment. Without looking, he knew exactly where Madara had gone, even though he hadn't actually seen the man move. Madara landed behind him and threw an elbow at the back of the younger Uchiha's head. Sasuke dodged the blow by barely an inch and tried to knock Madara's feet from under him with a low kick.

As the man jumped over the kick, Madara aimed a kick of his own at Sasuke. This attack landed and the young raven flew back a few yards before righting himself and settling into a low crouch. He shook out his shoulder, which had numbed from the impact.

_How strong is this man? He's not even adding chakra to his hits. _Sasuke thought as he rushed the elder Uchiha once again.

Naruto watched the fight from behind Konan's paper wall (although he'd yet to figure out exactly where the wall was) with a mixed expression, waiting for an opening to attack. He didn't like not being able to join in the fray, but he knew he had to wait for the perfect moment.


	6. An Arrogant Raven

**6**

Sasuke growled as he attacked Madara again and again. The man had yet to give Naruto an opening to attack and he was beginning to tire. He'd coated his left arm in lightning chakra and slashed viciously at the man, faster than even he'd thought he could manage, but still Sasuke could not even touch the older Uchiha.

Madara just danced between his swings, returning them at odd intervals, not even seeming to care if his blows made contact or not. But when they did… hurt was not a good enough word to describe the power Madara put behind his blows. Not to mention that the older Uchiha's eyes seemed to know his every move. Sasuke had almost expected that, what with how many years the Uchiha founder had over him, but he knew that if he didn't at least try to put up a fight, he would die.

Sasuke pulled back to get his breath for a moment. He glanced to the far side of the room and saw Naruto and Konan. Konan stood there with a nearly blank expression, but Sasuke could see a little anxiety behind her mask. The Naruto he could see was apparently the one that was projected upon Konan's wall, because he held no Rasengan, nor did he have the expression Sasuke was used to seeing on his face. There was a somewhat angry expression that didn't look completely right on the blond's face. No one who knew the blond's personality would have been fooled, and Sasuke could also see small imperfections: the misplaced whisker marking on the left cheek, the wrong shade of blue for the eyes. But for all intents and purposes, Konan had done a wonderful job on the Naruto double.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Madara turn his head, trying to see what had attracted his attention… and Sasuke pounced.

But, if the younger Uchiha had been expecting Madara to let his guard down, he had been sorely mistaken. As he lunged forward with his Kusanagi raised in the air behind him, Madara pulled his leg up and landed a kick into his stomach. A very hard kick. Sasuke went flying back almost thirty feet. But, surprisingly, even to himself, he landed on his feet.

And the moment his feet touched the ground, he felt Naruto's chakra dart forward from his place behind Konan's wall towards Madara. He saw the blond's new attack sear through the paper in a quick flare of light. Knowing that Naruto had found his opening, and remembering Naruto's warning about staying back when the attack was unleashed, Sasuke stayed put.

**xXx**

Even as he ran forward towards Madara he prepared himself to jump back.

From watching Madara react to Sasuke's fighting style, he decided that, since the man always stayed still until the last moment, Naruto would act as if he were going to go for a body shot again and, then, at the last moment, he would do what the man least expected him to do.

As he predicted, the Uchiha was still as he switched his attentions from Sasuke to Naruto's approach, the blond's new attack out to the side behind him. When he came about ten feet away, Naruto raised the fireball. He released the wind chakra a little and allowed it to spread further around the Rasengan, forming blades of fire and wind that spun with a mind of their own. He jumped at the man, preparing to lunge…

And suddenly thrust it downward at Madara's feet.

"Fuuton-katon Rasen Shuriken!" He knew there was no need to say even a word, but he enjoyed being able to name his own personal attacks at the spur of the moment. Naruto grinned ferociously.

The shockwave extending outward from the attack was massive. It was larger than his usual Rasen Shuriken and even Naruto himself was amazed as he surveyed the huge cloud of dust and debris as well as the crater below it as the rebounding wind from the attack pushed him back and into the air. His hand tingled unpleasantly, but he ignored it.

"Naruto!" he heard from somewhere off to his left. Sasuke.

"I'm fine!" he called back, turning in midair towards Sasuke so that his voice would not be dampened by the dense cloud around him.

"Not for long." Naruto froze as the source of the voice suddenly appeared not behind him. "Heh…" Air blew against his ear as Madara laughed at Naruto's obvious alarm. A second later, he brought his foot to the blond's back, sending him flying to the ground with a crash. A feminine sound of surprise came from somewhere off to his right at the sound of earthen destruction.

"Ugh…"

"Do you really think that I would underestimate you like my henchmen have?" Madara stood over Naruto. "I know you're not nearly as stupid as you pretend to be. That was an impressive little attack." He delivered another powerful kick to Naruto's side and the blond went flying out of the smoke and clear across the room.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled. He ran forward to catch the man flying towards him from out of the smoke. "Hn!" he grunted from the effort of stopping his full weight from crashing into the floor.

"Naruto! Are you alright? Naruto!" he shook the blond's shoulders.

"I'm…fine…teme. Don't…worry about…me." Naruto panted some blood dribbling from his mouth down his chin. "H-he just surprised me… is all" he struggled to get to his feet, but, the moment he stood, he fell forward. Sasuke steadied him. Naruto smiled.

"Did I ever tell you… that I'm glad you're back?"

"Now you have. And I'm glad to be back. Now all we have to do is survive this and we can go back to Konoha together."

"Heh. I promised I'd take you back, and I never go back on my word."

At that their new friend decided to make his entrance, walking out of the now quickly dissipating smoke leisurely. "How touching. The two finally make up and yet the both of you will die shortly." Madara laughed coldly.

Naruto and Sasuke both stopped breathing momentarily. The man standing before them barely had a scratch on him. The right arm of Madara's jacket was entirely burned off, but it seemed that the man had coated his arm with chakra just in time and the skin there was only slightly pink. The rest of him had escaped any sort of harm. Sasuke blew out a hissing breath and Naruto jerked his chin up angrily.

"The only one who will be dying is you!" Naruto said sharply.

Madara only laughed as his Sharingan spun, creating a blur of black on red. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the sight.

"Ne, Sasuke. That's the Mangekyou Sharingan, right? Why's it different from Itachi's and Kakashi-Sensei's?" Naruto asked softly. _And yours?_ He wanted to add, but he knew there was a story behind it. One that he would find out later.

"Almost all the Mangekyou's in existence have been different. Besides, Madara's is something called Eternal Mangekyou. He stole his brother's eyes when he went blind from use of his. He won't go blind from using it now."

_Nor will I._ Sasuke remembered that Itachi had prevented that by giving Sasuke his own Sharingan's abilities and characteristics.

"That's correct Sasuke. My brother kindly gave his eyes to his older brother and he now lives on in me."

"You're sick."

"You're one to talk. Your brother's eyes live now in you, also. You have the Eternal Mangekyou too."

"My brother gave me his eyes' abilities without my asking or even wanting him to. I did not steal his eyes from his dead body." Sasuke snapped, raising his blade. Naruto put a restraining hand on his shoulder, warning him to be careful.

"Touchy, touchy." Madara rolled his red eyes. Sasuke growled then grabbed Naruto's shoulder and pulled the blond back behind him as Madara pulled his hands up in front of his chest. For a moment, Sasuke had thought the older Uchiha was planning on casting some sort of jutsu, but the man only popped the knuckles of each hand and an almost feral grin formed at his lips.

"Perhaps it is better that your brother is dead. I wouldn't want to be bothered with killing him as well; he knew far too much." Sasuke growled in warning, and Naruto once again put a restraining hand on the raven's shoulder, sensing that Madara was baiting his friend, but Sasuke shrugged it off. "I must thank you though, Sasuke. You saved me the trouble."

Itachi was a sore subject for Sasuke, and, by the way Sasuke charged at Madara, one could easily tell. Even Madara seemed momentarily surprised at Sasuke's momentary burst of speed. To Naruto, who was still trying to find the ground beneath his feet, Sasuke seemed to disappear for a second and then reappear next to Madara. Sasuke managed to surprise Madara and nailed him with a kick to his gut, which obviously knocked the breath out of the man. But Madara wasn't off guard for long and caught the next kick in his hand.

What followed seemed to be a repeat of the first time Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto had fought Kakashi to get the bells from him. Sasuke, his leg caught in Madara's hand, shifted his weight and twisted around, throwing his other leg at Madara's head. When Madara caught that appendage with his other hand, Sasuke threw his right fist at him. Throwing away the leg in his right hand, Madara parried the fist, but was assailed yet again as Sasuke aimed his left fist at him. Madara couldn't win for losing and finally threw Sasuke bodily away from him with a disgusted look.

Not a second after Sasuke darted at Madara, Konan appeared at Naruto's side and laid a hand on his shoulder to steady him; he had fallen to one knee without Sasuke's support. She cast a quick first aid jutsu over his chest when she lifted his shirt and saw the beginnings of heavy bruising over his ribs and Naruto pulled in a grateful breath as a broken rib was pulled back into place. Kyuubi finished healing the rib and then focused on the other four that were cracked.

"Naruto, are you all right?" She'd dropped the polite address of "Uzumaki-kun" with the heat of the battle, and Naruto found himself thankful for it. The woman was quickly becoming a close comrade with the help she had given so far.

"I'm better now, thanks. We have to get Sasuke and get out of here, though. There is no way we can last much longer."

"I've still got some chakra left but it's not much compared to you and Sasuke. And you two barely have any left at all." Konan added softly.

"Well, you can hardly compare your reserves against ours. We're just weird." Naruto said, finding at least some humor in the situation. "But you're right."

Not seconds after Naruto finished his sentence there was an explosion that almost burst his eardrums. It was followed almost immediately by a huge aftershock and a strangled yell. Naruto jerked his head back to the fight and saw Sasuke flying backwards with his hand pressed to his side. He landed hard on the ground, rolling and gauging his way along the hard earth, leaving a long, deep impression.

He didn't move to get up once he'd stopped sliding.

"Sasuke!" Naruto began to run towards the raven but he was stopped a few steps later as Madara suddenly stepped in front of him. But, wait, Madara was over there. Meaning that this was a clone. Kami, he hated clones!

"Get out of my way!" The blond growled menacingly. The clone wasn't affected in the least, speaking with the same annoyingly calm attitude its creator had used at the beginning of the fight.

"No. You will not interfere." For some reason, the clone seemed to lack any sort of the personality that the real Madara had exhibited, which was strange when comparing it to Naruto's clones, who were the same all the way down to his personality. But then, Naruto's clones always had been different.

"I said get out of my way." Naruto's hands curled into fists.


	7. And the Ravens Leave the Fox to Misery

**7**

"No." The Madara clone replied.

"Fine. We'll play it your way." Naruto glanced meaningfully at Konan and, at her slight nod, launched himself at Madara, fist raised behind him. He surrounded his hand with a thin layer of his air element chakra, creating the equivalent of a _very _sharp blade around it. He saw Madara shift slightly to receive his attack but, at the last moment, Naruto sidestepped his way around the Madara clone.

After making sure he was a good distance away, he glanced back and saw the clone busily dodging one after another of what looked to be Konan's paper senbon needles.

_Thanks Konan. _He thought to himself before he turned his attention to the original Madara, who was standing over Sasuke with an almost pitying, but at the same time, haughty look that clearly stated: _I told you so._

"Get away from him you bastard!" Naruto shouted. The oldest Uchiha didn't turn, apparently believing that he was still held captive by his clone and was yelling as a bystander. Naruto's eyes burned.

He himself was amazed that he had any chakra left at all, not to mention the fact that he was still standing, but nonetheless, he summoned all the chakra he could. He coated his remaining hand with it so that both of his hands were bladed and he rushed towards Madara.

The man was still watching the downed Sasuke. Naruto looked at the younger raven and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Sasuke was currently back-talking Madara with a glare on his face. It was only when Naruto was almost upon them that Sasuke glanced at him and smirked. Madara looked up to follow his sightline just in time to introduce his left shoulder to one of Naruto's blade covered hands. He swiped his other hand at Madara as well, but missed as his slice went wide of the man's body.

The chakra around his hands disappeared and he pulled his hand from Madara's shoulder. The man grunted in pain and jumped back quickly while Naruto knelt down beside Sasuke. He slid an arm around Sasuke's middle and helped him to sit up.

"What happened, Madara? I didn't think it would be that easy to get a hit on you." The target of these words stared at Naruto while nursing his openly bleeding shoulder but he didn't reply. The blond decided to change his focus to the younger raven, who was leaning heavily against his side. "Are you okay?"

Sasuke nodded. "I'm fine, Nar-"He broke off as he looked up at the man next to him. His red eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly.

"What? Why are you staring at me like that? Sasuke! Answer me!" The blond snapped, annoyed that Sasuke wouldn't answer him and confused as to why the man had suddenly gone catatonic. He glanced at Madara warily to make sure that he was keeping a good distance back, and then at Konan, who was impressively holding her own against the Madara clone, though the clone seemed quite a bit weaker than the real thing.

After his sweep was done he returned his gaze to Sasuke who was still staring at him unsettlingly. Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"What is it?!" he barked. Sasuke blinked his eyes a few times and shook his head slightly. The sight was so funny that Naruto would have burst out laughing had it not been for the fact that his question was not being answered. "Damn it, Sasuke! What?!"

"Dobe, it's… it's your eyes… they're...Dobe. It's a kekkei genkai!" Sasuke said breathlessly, his eyes still wide.

Naruto's own eyes widened at the raven's words. "What are you talking about, teme? I don't have a kekkei genkai." He said slowly. He wasn't sure if it was a joke or not, but he really didn't think that Sasuke would joke at a time like this. At least he hoped not…

"Well you do now." Sasuke tightened his hold on Naruto's shoulder as he pushed himself up onto one knee. He tried to stand but his legs wouldn't support him. He cursed softly. After a second of catching his breath he reached down to his weapons pouch and pulled out one of his kunai. He looked at its reflective surface then handed it to Naruto.

"Look for yourself."

Naruto grabbed the kunai and did as Sasuke said. If even possible, Naruto's eyes grew wider than they already were. "What the hell." He said under his breath.

The irises of his eyes were a milky white like that of the Byakugan and the pupils were narrow slits that resembled what they were like, or so he'd been told, when the Kyuubi's chakra started to morph his features, but the rest of his eyes looked almost like the Sharingan. There was a thin circle that met the pupil at the top and bottom and there were three tomoe slowly spinning, just like the tomoe of any regular Sharingan did. But, comparing these tomoe with the ones that appeared with the Sharingan, they were longer, thinner, and more curved; like the small curved knives he had once seen that were imported from the west, beyond Gaara's country.

"I was wondering when it would appear." Naruto's head jerked up as Madara's voice reached his ears. The man was shaking out his left arm, making sure that Naruto hadn't cut any of the muscles or veins; which, unfortunately, he hadn't.

"What are you talking about, Madara?" he asked, though he had a good idea already.

"Your kekkei genkai of course. I was going to wait to take the fox until it had appeared and then torture you until you gave me your eyes-"

"Sadistic bastard." Naruto growled. Madara continued as if nothing was said, though a smirk rose to his lips at the comment.

"But this-this is even better! Sasuke-kun will give me his newly acquired Mangekyou Sharingan-"

"Not a chance, bitch." Sasuke muttered. Naruto nearly laughed at the affronted expression on Sasuke's face.

"-and you will give me yours and the Kyuubi in exchange for his life. That is a fair exchange, is it not?" Naruto was confused. Madara had sounded perfectly sane, if evil, when he first appeared. But now, he sounded something like a mad scientist.

"Go to hell, Madara! You're not getting our eyes or our lives, so go fuck yourself!" Naruto said, giving Madara a good look at his middle finger. Sasuke just smirked. Naruto had to admit that their humor was more than a little misplaced at a time like this. But what the hell. It looked like they were about to die anyway, regardless of what Naruto said.

"Oh… how rude. I'm sorry to hear that. Looks like I'll have to improvise-"

A second later Naruto's face met Madara's fist. Again.

The blond went flying back so hard that his impact against the paper wall shook the entire makeshift hideout. Sasuke fell back against the ground with a _thump_ as Naruto disappeared from his side. The younger Uchiha looked up to the sight of Madara standing over him and a shiver ran down his spine, though he tried not to show it. The man reached down with his good arm and grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him up easily. His feet rose a few inches from the floor.

From his new vantage point, Sasuke could see the blond struggling to get up from the ground across the room. The younger raven reached up his hands to latch onto Madara's. He tried to pry the man's hand from his neck but dropped his arms as his neck was squeezed to the point that he couldn't breathe. After his arms fell to his sides, Madara's grip slackened. But only slightly.

"Let go of him!"

Naruto used the wall behind him as leverage to pull himself up. He watched as Sasuke gasped for air in Madara's grasp. He itched to go and beat Madara until he couldn't rise but the man had such a grip on Sasuke that he didn't want to risk it. Either way, the blond could barely lift himself off the ground. He had no chakra left whatsoever. He'd tried to talk to Kyuubi but he heard no response. He could barely feel her for that matter.

"Are you trying to get your little fox to help you, Naruto-kun? Don't bother. Sasuke-kun might have released the first seal I put on you but he didn't even see the second one."

"What?!" Naruto growled, trying to think of any time that Madara could have put another seal on him without his knowing. Unfortunately, there had been quite a few.

"It was one of my own making, so he wouldn't have been able to take it off anyway." Madara continued, seemingly unaware that Sasuke's face was growing pale from lack of air. "Feel honored. I haven't even named it yet. You're the first person I've used it on in a fight. It's meant purely for use on Jinchuuriki, and it seems that it works even better than I thought it would, though I admit that I underestimated the amount of chakra you have even without the fox's augmentation of your reserves."

Naruto glared at Madara who sighed and shook his head pityingly

"You can't use your kekkei genkai either. Heh. You don't even know what it does. And even if you did you still wouldn't be able to do anything because you're so exhausted. Admit it Naruto-kun. You've lost this fight."

Naruto was still silent.

"Just…let Sasuke go." He said slowly. Madara let out a deep chuckle then, freezing Naruto's heart in his chest. The triumphant smile the man gave tore into him just as well as any blade would have.

"I don't think I will. He's mine now."

**xXx**

Sasuke actually did shiver when he heard Madara speak those words. He fought his instinct to clutch at the hands around his throat, which were making it very hard to breathe. _What is he planning?_

His thoughts were cut short as his attention was drawn to the sound of something being dropped on the ground next to him and Madara. He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw the bloodied and bruised form of Konan lying at his feet. The Madara clone was standing over her with a smug look on his face.

"Heh. She was fun to play with but she got tired too fast." The clone kicked her in the side and she rolled onto her face and moaned softly. He put his hands together. "Release!" The clone promptly disappeared in a cloud of smoke and the original returned his gaze to Naruto. There was a calculating glint in them that he hadn't seen before. Naruto didn't like it.

"Well? What do you say? Will you give me your eyes?"

"Go to hell!" the blond snarled without thinking. Madara smirked.

"Fine. Suit yourself. Come find us when you change your mind."

He pulled out a scroll from beneath his cloak and threw it in the air. He raised his free hand to his mouth and bit into the skin of his thumb until it bled. The scroll unfurled around him and he ran his thumb through the middle of it leaving a thin line of blood. The scroll surrounded him and Sasuke and just before it completely blocked the two from view, the oldest living Uchiha raised a mocking hand in farewell to Naruto.

"Bye-bye Naruto-kun! See if you can learn how to use your kekkei genkai a little better before you give it to me."

"No! Madara, you bastard! Wait! Let Sasuke go!" Naruto ran forward only to have his legs give out on him. The blond pitched face-first at the ground and only just managed to catch himself with his hands. He looked up just in time to see the cocoon-like scroll surrounding Madara and Sasuke unravel to reveal an empty space where they'd once stood.

"Damn it!" he punched the ground weakly. "Damn it, Damn it, Damn it!" he bowed forward on his knees and pressed his forehead onto the ground.

"Sasuke…"


	8. And the Fox Is Found

**8**

Tsunade was helping to heal some of the wounded villagers that lay on the ground alongside each other atop Hokage Tower. Karin was a few feet away from Sakura who was healing a child who was bleeding internally. Karin herself was ordering Kakashi to bite her arm and, as he did, albeit hesitantly, his smaller wounds began to heal visibly. She informed him that he would have to wait a little while for his broken arm and fractured ribs to heal completely before he could move around freely.

There were two Anbu behind Tsunade watching warily as Juugo and Suigetsu approached, carrying six unconscious villagers over their shoulders.

As much as she loathed admitting it, Sasuke's team had been a great help. They'd searched for and found most of the unaccounted for villagers (most of whom had not been evacuated and were caught in the crossfire) and had brought them to Hokage Tower. Karin had lent her skills as a healer and Tsunade was not about to refuse them. She had only barely managed to scrounge up enough chakra to smooth out the wrinkles on her face, not wanting to worry those looking to her for support.

Team Hawk had made it clear that they were only helping out because of Sasuke's command to do so but they had done a great deal for Konoha. Tsunade was thinking of waving their sentences as rogue ninja if they wanted to stay in the village after Sasuke returned.

They'd already found all of the ninja who had miraculously come back to the world of the living, but who had been unable to move due to their injuries. Once she'd called the all clear, the villagers that had been safely evacuated under the Hokage Monument joined in the search for the missing and those that could deal well in medicine came straight to the tower to assist, since the hospital had been destroyed in the attack.

There were now only ten people whose whereabouts were unknown and Tsunade expected them to be found soon. She suspected that the amazing survival and revival of all of the ninja of Konoha had something to do with Naruto's disappearance.

There were only a few casualties resulting from the attack and they were all villagers who had no access to the chakra they held in their bodies. Tsunade had an idea that something had happened to force the souls of Konoha's ninja back into their bodies, and had used chakra to keep them there. The fact that only ninja had been brought back when they had been thought dead nearly proved her point. And the phenomenon was limited to only Konoha forces. All of the enemies forces had either retreated or been eliminated; none of them had been brought back, thankfully.

Tsunade had ordered all of the bodies of the enemy ninja to be taken to the interrogation office so that she could find out exactly who it was who led them. She wanted to verify that what Sasuke had told her was true, especially what he said about Madara still being alive, although she was fairly certain he would make up a better story than that if he was really lying. She knew that none of the grunts that had attacked the village were likely to know the orchestrator of the attack, but she had to at least try.

She felt a familiar presence behind her and she sighed.

"Shizune, status report."

"Lady Tsunade, the search has been completed. There are twenty-three villagers dead and none of ours are without injury. The only areas that survived Pein's explosion were the buildings one hundred and twenty feet in front of Hokage Tower and behind it. The outer rim of the village is also intact since the blast was centered in the middle of Konoha and extended outward in a large circle. We should be able to rebuild completely within four months."

"And Naruto?"

"He hasn't returned yet but I'm sure he will, soon."

"He'd better! He can't just go off and do whatever he wants whenever he wants!" Tsunade ranted as she turned around and put her arm around Shizune's shoulders, suddenly dizzy from her chakra loss and trying to hide that fact from those around her by acting at least semi-normal. The Hokage could not afford to appear weak in a time such as this.

Shizune glanced at her worriedly, though she said nothing as she supported Tsunade's weight. She walked the older woman towards the wall of the covering for the stairs that led down into the tower and let Tsunade lean against it.

"I've got to go organize the villagers so we can begin to rebuild. I'll report back in a bit." She slipped from her Hokage's hold and retreated down the stairs.

Tsunade sighed. "Being Hokage is tiresome. I need some sake…"

"You should probably hold off on that drink order for a while, Tsunade. I think something's wrong."

Tsunade turned to face the three brats that had taken to calling her by her first name without any title whatsoever, but she didn't comment when she saw their serious expressions.

Karin was in front while Juugo and Suigetsu stood behind her off to either side. These three were the only ones who knew that Naruto was in trouble besides herself and Shizune. If she had told Kakashi and Sakura then they would've gone after him despite the conditions they were in. She couldn't have that; Karin may have healed Kakashi but he still had barely any chakra left and Sakura's right leg was broken; she couldn't get around without help.

"What is it, Karin?" she asked.

"I've been monitoring Sasuke's chakra, but something's happened. I can't sense Sasuke's chakra anymore. It just disappeared, like it would in a transportation jutsu. The jutsu wasn't his, though, because I would have caught the flare in chakra."

"What about Naruto? And Madara?"

"I don't know. I can't sense specific chakras from a far distance unless I'm familiar with them."

"Hmm. Do you remember the last place you felt Sasuke's chakra?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes." The redhead nodded.

"Okay. Wait here for a minute."

Tsunade walked over to a masked Anbu who was a little bit away and, as Team Hawk watched, she whispered something in his ear. He nodded and replied with a 'Yes, Lady Hokage '. A moment later she came back over to Sasuke's team and nodded to them.

"Let's go."

The three looked at each other and then they shrugged almost simultaneously. Karin turned towards Tsunade and lifted her arm to point to her left where there was a large area covered by trees.

"He's that way. Do you think you can keep up?" She asked with a smirk. She only seemed to be trying to hide anxiety over their leader's disappearance, though, rather than attempting to find any real humor in the situation.

"Shut up, brat! I'm not that old yet!" Tsunade jumped off the side of Hokage Tower and to the roof of a nearby house with a short burst of chakra then she turned back to the three members of Hawk who were still standing on the tower, staring at where she had been in surprise. They hadn't even seen her move. _Ha! Serves 'em right! Now. Let's go find my favorite gaki and bring him home. _"Come on! Hurry up!" She yelled with a smirk of her own, and then she turned and took off in the direction Karin had pointed.

After she felt three presences following close behind her, Tsunade forced herself to relax and she extended her senses outward and searched for Naruto's chakra. She hoped that he was alright and that Sasuke had found him already. That the only reason Karin couldn't sense Sasuke was because he was low on chakra.

Just as they entered the Forest of Death, which was where Karin had last sensed Sasuke, and the direction in which Tsunade had seen Naruto leave when he had finished his fight with Pein, Tsunade sensed a short, intense burst of chakra not far from them. Looking back at her, Tsunade saw that Karin had felt it too.

All four of them raced quickly altered course to the location of Naruto's chakra spike and, as they were jumping from branch to branch, Suigetsu spotted two motionless figures on the ground below them. Tsunade recognized the orange-colored shreds of cloth that still hung to his arms. Her heart jumped to her throat.

"Naruto!" she darted from the branch she'd stopped on towards the blond. She panicked when she reached his side. "Talk to me, Naruto!"

"_Calm down_, Tsunade." Karin said as she kneeled down beside Naruto and ran practiced, green-glowing hands over him. "He'll be fine. He's only got a couple of fractured ribs. His only other major problem is chakra loss. Everything else is small, like a sprained ankle and a whole bunch of cuts and bruises, but those are obvious."

Tsunade only just managed to push back the part of herself that was screaming at her to make Naruto wake up and say he was alright, and the part of herself that was screaming at her for forgetting her skills as a medic ninja. She looked up at Karin as the woman stood and she calmed down almost visibly, nodding to let Karin know that she had heard her.

Just as Karin stood, though, Naruto stirred and he slowly opened his eyes to the sight of the Fifth Hokage and a group of rogue ninjas he didn't know standing over him. He reacted quite calmly to it, too.

"Hey, Baa-chan." He started in a hoarse voice. He coughed lightly then cringed as a sharp pain ran through his chest. Naruto saw Tsunade open her mouth to say something and raised a hand to stop her. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me. But, please, heal her. She's the one who needs it."

The four new arrivals looked at the other figure lying beside him. Their attention had mostly been on Naruto, having deigned her of no importance when they saw that the figure was not Sasuke, but now they studied her for the first time.

They soon saw that her clothing would resemble an Akatsuki member's cloak if it were not torn to shreds, and as soon as the four realized that fact they each pulled out a kunai in surprise. At Naruto's urging they backed down, but when they looked again they saw that there really hadn't been any need to go on guard at all. She wouldn't have been able to fight if she'd wanted to.

Some of the strips of the woman's cloak had been tied around three of her limbs to staunch bleeding from many small cuts and some larger ones. She was nearly covered in new bruises and blood.

Through it all, and with the assistance of noticing her blue hair, Tsunade recognized her as Konan. She'd been part of the attack on Konoha; some people had seen her going around the village looking for Naruto and from the intelligence Sakura had brought her, Tsunade could put a name to her face.

She looked back toward Naruto, who was trying to lift himself up against one of the ancient trees that surrounded them and wincing as his injuries made themselves known. Tsunade would have told him to lay back down except she knew it wouldn't work and she was too busy wondering what Naruto was doing with an Akatsuki member.

"Wha-?" _What have you been doing, Naruto?_

The blond sighed in relief as he finally managed to maneuver himself into a comfortable spot. Or maybe it was in annoyance.

"Just heal her, Tsunade." She flinched at the impersonal use of her name from Naruto. "She's on our side now. She helped me… and Sasuke."

At these words Tsunade was quiet, and then, a minute later, she nodded decisively. She turned to Karin, who was standing on the other side of Naruto still. She wondered why the woman hadn't moved to help begin healing either of the two. The woman had a hard look on her face.

"Karin? What's wrong?"

Karin didn't answer. Tsunade glanced at the other members of Hawk and saw that they were both staring at Naruto in an almost questioning way.

"Karin?" Tsunade asked again.

"Where is Sasuke?" the redhead asked quietly.

Naruto turned his head away from her. From the angle she was at, Tsunade could see that he'd closed his eyes and that he'd pulled his arm across him middle, as if the seal there was paining him. But she had seen this very movement before, when Jiraiya had died, or sometimes when he'd thought of Sasuke. She recognized that something terrible had happened to him since the last time she'd seen him. Then, when he opened his eyes a second later, he plastered a fake smile on his face. It hurt Tsunade to look at it. He turned back to face Karin.

"You guys must be Sasuke's new team. I didn't think he would be stupid enough to go after Itachi without one. He has a lot of people after him. I'm sure he wanted to actually get to his brother before dying from an ambush or something. And if he picked you guys I'm sure you're all really good ninja. Your name's Karin, right?"

When he saw that Sasuke's team was still glaring at him, his smile faltered and his babbling stopped. Tsunade didn't know why Naruto had thought that his distraction tactics would work in the first place, but the very fact that he'd resorted to it made her stomach drop.

"Where?" Karin asked again.

"He… he was taken by Madara- No! WAIT!" Naruto shouted hoarsely as the three of them readied themselves to jump into the trees again and begin a search. They paused at his voice. He was breathing harshly, and his features hardened.

"If me and Sasuke, not to mention a rogue Akatsuki member, couldn't take Madara out, what makes you think you can?"

It was Juugo who spoke this time. "He is our teammate and he took us from Orochimaru's clutches. Even if it was for his own devices, we still owe him our lives!"

"I know! I promised him-!" Naruto started, but his voice cracked this time and he lapsed into a coughing fit. After he'd recovered, he continued in a quieter tone. "I fully plan on going after Sasuke but we need to have backup. Just wait in Konoha for… for three weeks. Three weeks at most. After that we can go kill that bastard Madara and bring Sasuke back with us." his voice was lower now, tired. "You can go and get yourselves killed without doing any good or you can wait for reinforcements and we can get some serious revenge and bring Sasuke back. What do you say?"

Tsunade had moved to the other side of Konan, healing her major cuts and stopping any free-flowing blood while Naruto was speaking to Team Hawk. She was impressed, to say the least. The hothead he'd been before Jiraiya was killed had all but disappeared, and he'd already come up with a smart strategy. She decided to lend her own opinion to his argument and, when she cleared her throat, the three members of Sasuke's team looked at her.

"Because Sasuke was taken, you three no longer have any obligation to stay here, but Naruto is right. There is strength in numbers. The Kazekage is a good friend of Naruto's and I'm sure he'd be more than willing to lend a hand. I'll send a few of my ninja as well, so you'd have the support of both Konoha and Sand behind you. Doesn't that sound better than going out to die?" Naruto turned towards her and grinned in thanks.

She smiled back and then watched as Hawk walked out of hearing range to deliberate, their expression grim. She idly wondered if Sasuke knew exactly how loyal they were to him. She kept her eyes on them for a moment before turning back to Naruto.

"What happened?"

"I'll… I'll tell you later, Baa-chan."

She sighed. "… Fine. You know, you've really grown up since we first met, Naruto."

"Yeah… It's kinda hard not to, what with all that's happened."

"I know." Tsunade used what was left of her chakra to heal a large gash along Konan's right arm. She then stood up and moved to Naruto's side. He was currently struggling to use the tree behind him as a sort of prop, to help him to his feet.

Once again, Tsunade knew that it was useless to say anything and they had to get him back to the village anyway, so she leaned down to put an arm around his waist and she pulled him up slowly. Once he was steady on his feet, Naruto pushed Tsunade's hands away and leaned back against the tree.

**xXx**

Tsunade looked at him worriedly, but he waved her away and sighed. She stood next to him anyway. He said nothing and stared at the ground, trying to block out everything so he could think while Sasuke's team was deciding what they would do.

He wondered what type of seal it was that Madara had put on him and when he'd done it. Naruto had already decided that it was impossible for the Uchiha to have put two seals on him at the same time, which is basically what the man had tried to say he'd done. Naruto hadn't felt two hits. Plus he'd had contact with Kyuu after the man put the Five-Pronged Seal on him. Madara was trying to trick him into thinking he was more powerful than he actually was. His taijutsu and genjutsu skills were definitely real, and more than impressive, but Naruto had yet to see any ninjutsu from him. Maybe that was his weakness? His clones were certainly weak, or at least, not as equal in strength to him as Naruto's were to him. And he'd been winded by the hit that Sasuke had landed. Although he'd barely flinched when Naruto had stabbed right through his arm…

Either way, the main problem was the seal. He hadn't heard a word from Kyuu and he was beginning to get worried-

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard a voice. He raised his head and saw Tsunade looking at him anxiously. "Naruto? Are you all right?" He looked at his clenched hand that she held in two of her own, the nails digging into the skin of his palm. He'd been so engrossed in his thoughts that his mind had yet to register the pain that seemed to grow from his stomach. Or rather, from his seal…

_Speak of the devil and she will come. This is probably gonna hurt._ Naruto thought grimly as he pressed his other hand onto his seal having suddenly realized what was happening.

"Shit…Madara sealed Kyuu… She's trying to break it… don't… do anything." That was all he could manage to say before the pain grew even more and he was forced from his standing position against the tree, to his knees on the ground. His left hand, which Tsunade had since released in confusion, scrabbled to find purchase in the damp earth below him as if it could steady him against the dizzying waves of pain that began to wash over him.


	9. The Story Is Told

**9**

"Naruto!" Tsunade exclaimed.

Team Hawk was back at their sides in a second, on the ready for an incoming attack. When they saw what was happening they silently put away their kunai. Juugo and Suigetsu stepped a few feet back while Karin knelt at Naruto's side. She was about to put her hand on his chest when Tsunade interfered.

"No. He said for us not to do anything. It's a seal that Madara put on him and Kyuubi's apparently trying to break it so-"

She was cut off mid-sentence as Naruto's piercing scream rang through the surrounding forest. Both she and Sasuke's team flinched with the sheer pain that it contained. A slightly reddish hue was beginning to surround him and sickening cracks were heard even as the Naruto's shirt stirred grotesquely, suggesting that Naruto's ribs were being put back into place and repaired.

"-so we shouldn't disrupt his chakra anymore than it already has been." Tsunade finished her sentence and trailed into silence, her face pale and ashen. She had a sudden idea and then looked over to Konan. _Maybe she can tell us what exactly happened. _Tsunade slowly walked towards the now semi-healed woman and, one she reached her, she slapped Konan, none too gently, on the face to bring her back into consciousness.

Konan's eyes flickered open and surveyed her surroundings, as was drilled into a ninja from the moment they could speak. The first thing her eyes landed on was the tense, rigid-muscled body of Naruto. Seemingly grasping the situation, she gasped and, surprising Tsunade with her agility while still injured, jerked up and crawled to the blond's side before anyone could do anything to stop her.

Konan grabbed Naruto's shoulders and pulled his head to her shoulder as she whispered harshly to him. "Naruto-kun! Come on, Naruto. Hold on a little while longer. Remember? You promised Nagato. You said you always keep your promises, right? You have to keep your promise to Sasuke and Nagato. You can't die." She rocked him gently with a worried expression on her face.

Tsunade and Team Hawk both stood in shocked silence. None of them had expected such an exclamation from an ex-Akatsuki member, especially one who had, just hours ago, gone after Naruto, trying to kill him and take the Kyuubi. Tsunade hadn't realized that Naruto could die from the Kyuubi breaking the seal. That shocked her even more and added to her anxiety.

In apparent response to Konan's urgings, Naruto eyes flashed open for a slow millisecond and his hands snaked forward to latch themselves around Konan's waist. She pulled him further against her chest and tucked his head under her chin as she murmured assurances and began to rub her thumb in calming circles between his shoulder blades.

Tsunade tried to step forward to separate the two, worried that Naruto was so close to the woman, but Karin stopped her. She directed a scowl at redhead, but Karin shook her head.

"Can't you see? He needs it. He's breathing calmer now. I don't know what happened, but I can tell that she won't hurt him. I can sense it." She said, tapping her temple as if the movement explained exactly what she meant and she looked at Naruto with what seemed like a new respect. It was strange how seeing another ninja endure pain was something that could instill respect in the one's watching. But who was she to determine the culture of the world she lived in? "We've decided that Team Hawk will stay in Konoha until Naruto leaves to find Madara. We'll leave with him then."

"You're sure?" Tsunade marveled at Naruto's gift of charming people into putting their trust in him. Even while he was suffering great pain.

Karin nodded. They both turned their attention back to Naruto, from whom drifted a weak breathy moan. The chakra from the fox had recede somewhat and Naruto was no longer screaming, but he was still in apparent pain. He was trembling.

"Itai… it hurts…" He didn't seem to realize they were even there, instead speaking as if to himself. Naruto had his back to them and Konan's face was visible over his shoulder. From this viewpoint they could see Konan move her hand up to Naruto's neck and they could see her press down on the pressure point behind his ear. Before they could move, Naruto slumped further into Konan's arms.

"Wha-?" Tsunade started to object to the action, but Konan cut her off as she put a finger to her lips and moved to lay Naruto on the ground in front of her. Tsunade was somewhat shocked to see the tear streaks down his cheeks. She'd never seen him cry in front of anyone before and the only instance of it she'd heard of was after he'd been told Jiraiya had been killed. And she'd never, _never_, known him to cry from pain, not even when he was nearly dying from it. The first thing she thought was that he must have been in an unbelievable amount of torment.

Tsunade sent Konan a questioning look.

The woman answered while still looking down at Naruto. "The seal was one of Madara's own making. Madara once bragged to Pein that it nearly fuses to the host's chakra system, so the pain of breaking the seal is unimaginable. I think that the demon fox was blunting a lot of the pain; if the Kyuubi hadn't been, he would have died from the shock of it; at least, that's what Madara said. I put him out so that his chakra system could recover from having the Kyuubi's chakra running through it."

"Is he…okay now?" Tsunade hated to admit that she was in no position to judge his well-being, having no chakra and being almost dead on her feet.

"Not right now, but he will be."

"Why did you help him?"

Konan shrugged. "He promised someone dear to me that he would fulfill their hearts greatest desire. Because of that he has become a precious person to me and I will protect him."

"How did that happen?" Konan looked up at Tsunade with a bland expression, one that made it clear she was not willing to elaborate on the subject.

"Godaime, I think we should go back to Konoha. Kyuubi may have healed his injuries…" She gestured down at his now unmarred body. "…but he still needs to get some food when he wakes up, since he has very severe chakra loss. Plus, I don't think the story you need to hear is my story to tell."

Suigetsu stepped forward. "We ought to hear this, too, since we're Sasuke's team. I think we should know what happened."

Tsunade stared at the four conscious members of the group and then she nodded. "You're right. Let's go back to Hokage Tower. I'll summon Kakashi and Sakura since they're Naruto and Sasuke's old teammates and I'll have some food sent to my office while we wait for Naruto to wake up. I need to check the status of the village as well.

"Juugo, can you carry Naruto? And can you help Konan, Suigetsu?" Both of them nodded.

"Let's go then."

**xXx**

Juugo carried Naruto princess style all the way back to the tower and the blond probably would have tried to kill the man for it, or died of embarrassment, had he been awake or in any condition to fight; he was neither. Konan, however, wouldn't allow Suigetsu to carry her, and was perfectly able and willing to protest, so he'd held her by the waist keeping her steady the whole time.

They'd been met by ANBU as they'd made their way past the wall protecting the village. Tsunade had no problem getting them to let the four rogue ninja pass through, as none were part of Danzou's ROOT division and they'd quickly darted to Hokage tower and straight into Tsunade's office. They'd had no problems with the elders or the aforementioned Danzou as of yet, so Tsunade had deemed it safe to say that they had not been sighted beyond the ANBU. If they had been seen, they would have some troubles to deal with, namely that of Tsunade quickly being named a traitor.

Once in Tsunade's office, Juugo set Naruto on the couch that was pushed against the wall to the right of her desk and Suigetsu helped Konan into a chair that was diagonally facing the make-shift bed. Both he and Juugo had promptly fallen back into the other couch that was on the opposite side of the room, Karin making a trip down the hall with Tsunade to find some new clothes for Konan.

Now, about an hour and a half later, Tsunade was dozing gently behind her desk waiting for Naruto to wake up. They'd estimated he would wake soon judging by his healing abilities. Everyone was still in the same place they'd chosen when they'd arrived, except that Karin had joined her teammates on the couch, using Suigetsu's shoulder as a pillow. Tsunade had been surprised Suigetsu hadn't shoved her off of him, knowing from his Bingo book file that he had a rather short temper.

When Tsunade had returned from her check on the status of everything in the village, she'd brought with her two more people; Kakashi and Sakura. She hadn't told them much of anything yet, and they now sat in chairs in front of her desk with curious and bewildered expressions towards both the unconscious figure of Naruto and Konan who was leaned over him worriedly. Unsurprisingly, Kakashi sent many a hard stare at the three members of Sasuke's team, a calculating glint in his eyes, trying to figure out what was going on. Sasuke's team was pleasantly oblivious to the suspicious attentions, alternatively talking amongst themselves and going quiet.

Sakura, on the other hand, was completely confused. She didn't know anyone in the room besides the Hokage, Naruto, and their sensei, but she knew from their scarred headbands that they were all rogue-nin, and she had to wonder why the Hokage was allowing them to stay in her village, her _office_, without repercussion. She knew that they had helped in the aftermath of the attack, but she still didn't trust them. She kept a hand near her weapon's pouch.

"He's waking up!" Konan quietly, but loudly enough that everyone in the room heard. They all jerked to attention, glad they no longer had to wait for explanations. The fact that Naruto was waking up, of course, was good as well. They all heard a soft moan and saw Naruto begin to shift around on the couch. Konan put a hand on his shoulder and shook it slightly.

"Naruto, wake up. We need to discuss what happened and what we're going to do about Sasuke." He started to blink slowly, not quite awake at the moment, and still drowsy from having been chakra deprived and from recent events.

"What?! Sasuke was here?!" Sakura practically screeched.

"Ne, Sakura-chan…" Naruto whined, putting a hand up to massage a temple. "Can you be a little quieter? Please?" She snapped her mouth shut with an embarrassed expression. He carefully pushed himself up into a sitting position and when Konan started to help him he pushed away her hands. "I'm fine now, Konan… Thank you."

Konan nodded and sat back in her chair before turning towards Tsunade. She set the plate of fruit Tsunade had brought for them earlier in front of him, and he quickly grabbed a few apple slices to munch away at while he narrated the story.

"Now, I guess we can explain. Naruto?" When she and everyone else in the room turned to him expectantly, Naruto sighed and leaned back against the couch arm, getting comfortable.

"Fine. I'll start from when my fight with Pein ended." he sighed again. "I figured out where the real Pein was by tracking him through one of the chakra receivers on his body and went to where he was hiding after sending Katsuyu back to you, Tsunade." He nodded in her direction. "When I entered the hideout I found Pein and Konan waiting for me. We…talked. And I convinced him that though we both had the same ambitions-"

"Wait." Sakura interrupted. "Why did you just _talk_ to him?! He destroyed most of the village!"

When Naruto answered, he was glaring at Sakura. She flinched back. "He was once a student of my teacher, Jiraiya. He wanted peace. Just the same as me and Ero-sennin. He just didn't realize that peace put into effect by a forceful domination would be worse than a war. _He_ was the one who gave all of Konoha's ninja their lives back. At the price of his own."

Sakura sat back in her seat with a red face and tried to avoid Naruto's gaze. After a moment, his gaze left her to rest on their old sensei as the silver-haired man began to talk.

"If that's true then we owe him. He might have been the one to take most of the inhabitants of Konoha's lives' but he tried his best to rectify his mistake. I, for one, am glad to be back among the living." Kakashi said as he smiled under his mask.

"He wasn't even the person who led the attack on Konoha, though." Naruto continued with his story after nodding in agreement to Kakashi's words. "After Pein died and when Konan was about to leave, another person showed up. He was also a member of Akatsuki and he turned out to be the one that Pein and Konan actually used to answer to. You guys might recognize his name: Uchiha Madara."

The only people who looked surprised, once again, were Kakashi and Sakura. Sasuke's team had already been told about him, Konan had been there with him and, to Tsunade, Sasuke's words had only been confirmed.

"I was under the impression that Uchiha Madara was dead. I'm sure you're right about his identity, though. I assume he has a technique not unlike Orochimaru's?" Kakashi asked.

"That's what I'm guessing too." Naruto answered back. He waved his hand in the air in front of him as if he didn't care about what he was saying. "He said some useless stuff about him taking me wherever and taking Kyuubi and killing me. After that, I attacked him." He shrugged. Tsunade half-smiled at his nonchalance. "He was really strong. He threw me into a wall easily and, as far as I could tell, he wasn't even using chakra. Everything I threw at him he dodged easily and, sometime during the fight, Madara put a Five-Pronged seal on me. After about the fourth or fifth time of being thrown against a wall-" he interrupted himself and scowled at Konan. She put up her hands in a peace gesture.

"Hey, I couldn't soften the walls fast enough to gentle the landing. If I'd softened _everywhere,_ then the place would have collapsed. I would've if I could've." The others in the room just looked at each other with raised eyebrows, seeing the former enemy explaining herself to Naruto. But it was also slightly amusing seeing the petulant look Naruto was giving her.

"Yeah, I know…" He sighed. "Well, after that, just when I thought he was about to knock me out, Sasuke showed up out of nowhere and blocked the hit. He removed the Five-Pronged seal and we fought Madara together. I jumped in with a huge Rasengan, but Madara avoided that somehow as well. He kicked me clear across the room."

He leaned forward and put his head in his hands, elbows on his knees, running them through his hair. "He was too strong even when Sasuke had his full power, plus the Mangekyou Sharingan! And Madara managed to goad Sasuke into fighting him one on one, but then he made a clone that tried to keep us out of the fight. I dodged around the clone while Konan kept it busy and I managed to catch the real Madara in the arm with one of my wind attacks." He confused the details of the events a little bit to hide the fact that he had used a new jutsu in the heat of battle. He knew neither Tsunade nor Kakashi would be glad to hear about it. Frankly he was surprised that Sasuke had even agreed to it in the first place, but that was neither here nor there.

"How did you catch him off guard, if he's as good as you say?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm not really sure, but I think… it was this." He wasn't exactly sure how to make his kekkei genkai appear at will, but on a hunch, Naruto raised his head recalling and recreating the feeling of his eyes burning; it didn't hurt, it only felt strange. Everyone in the room gasped, including Konan, because she'd been too occupied with the clone to pay any attention to Naruto at the time.

"A… Kekkei Genkai? I had no idea either of your family lines had a bloodline limit." Tsunade said in an amazed voice, though when she realized what she'd said, her eyes widened. She'd just mentioned something no one was supposed to know about. Naruto half-smiled, half-frowned.

"The Fourth, right? Don't worry; I can understand why you didn't tell me. You'll have to tell me the rest later, though." Everyone else looked at him in confusion, minus Kakashi, who seemed to know perfectly well what was being spoken of, but Naruto waved his hand at them in a motion that said he'd explain later.

"Anyways, I think that these eyes can negate the effects of other Kekkei Genkai or something, since Madara didn't seem to see me coming at all. He seemed to know that I would have it, though, and he started ranting about taking mine and Sasuke's eyes. He said that he wanted us to give them up willingly. We both told him, well, actually, only _I_ did, to go to hell." Kakashi and Tsunade grinned, knowing that Naruto _would_ do something like that.

"The only problem was that I'd used almost all of my chakra in that last attack on Madara and I couldn't actually do anything to back up my words." Naruto winced at remembering the feeling of uselessness. "He threw me against the wall, _again_, and he picked Sasuke up by the back of his neck. I was afraid he'd break Sasuke's neck so I didn't move. His clone brought Konan over to them and then dispelled itself and he told me that I should find him whenever I could use these eyes better. Then… he disappeared. He used a teleportation jutsu." Naruto closed his eyes then opened them again to reveal his sky blue eyes once again.

"After that, I picked Konan up and carried her until I collapsed. I used the last of my chakra to help you guys find me and… after that you know the rest. Kyuubi broke the second seal Madara had put on me-" He put up a hand when Tsunade opened her mouth to ask a question. "But I don't know when he did it, so don't ask. After that, you guys brought me here. That's it."

Tsunade looked over at Konan. "Anything to add?"

"No. He told it right." She shrugged. Naruto was thankful that she went along with his attempt at hiding his jutsu.

"Alright… Kakashi. Sakura. Team Hawk over there, Sasuke's team-" she gestured with her hand at the couch that held Sasuke's three teammates. "Have decided to wait in Konoha for reinforcements and until Naruto is ready to go. They will go after Sasuke when Naruto leaves. What I want to know is will you go with them?"

Both of them answered without a second thought. "Of course!"

"Good. I think we all need some rest. We'll discuss Naruto's plans tomorrow with Shikamaru and see what he thinks. He's going to be at least one of the ninja from Konoha who go with you after Sasuke. There are some pallets, futons, and blankets over there in the next room. You can lay them out and move the furniture around so you can all sleep here until we can arrange for a place for you to stay. I'm going out to help Shizune with some of the villagers- and, no, Sakura you cannot help, you've already used almost all your chakra up. Stay here and rest. I'll be back tomorrow with Shikamaru." She said as she started for the door.

"Thanks, Baa-chan."

"You're welcome, gaki. And, Naruto?" he looked up at her. "I'm glad you're okay." He smiled at her tiredly. "Now. Go to sleep." And she left. Kakashi and Sakura followed shortly, leaving everyone to their business. Everyone left in the room could see that no one else wanted to talk so they all quietly got out the pallets and blankets and fell asleep quickly. They all desperately wanted for all of this to be a dream, even though they all knew it wasn't possible.


	10. And the Torture Is Begun

**10**

His stomach twisted as he and his captor reached their destination.

As soon as the scroll surrounding them receded and disappeared, Sasuke turned and growled. He expected to be faced with the arrogant man's smirking face. What he was met with instead was definitely _not_ what he expected.

He felt the sharp edge of a blade against his throat, but he had almost expected that. The only problem with it was that it wasn't his original captor's hands that held the blade. An arm had appeared from the darkness behind Madara, who was indeed smirking arrogantly, and rested slightly above the man's shoulder. He felt the pressure of the blade increase slightly, telling him to move backwards, and he obliged.

The moment the person stepped from behind Madara, Sasuke's eyes widened. He almost stopped moving but, as his neck was cut into, he winced and took another step back grudgingly.

"Kabuto…" he hissed spitefully. "I knew I should've killed you when I had the chance." Sasuke glared as viciously as he could, which was actually pretty meaningless considering he could be killed at a whim by Madara. Even Kabuto could get the better of him in the weakened state he was in now. He had no chakra and barely any strength after the fight.

Kabuto grinned menacingly at Sasuke's statement. "But if you'd done that we wouldn't have been able to meet again, Sasuke-kun."

An involuntary shiver ran down his spine as he heard the slithering voice he remembered well come out of the man's mouth. Yep, that was most definitely _not_ Kabuto. He couldn't say he was surprised the man was still alive. Damn snake…

"Orochimaru…" Sasuke eyed the man's hand, which he suspected held a kunai though he could not see it, carefully. He contemplated trying to escape the blade, but knew that Orochimaru probably wouldn't even need the blade to take him down at the moment, so he gave up on that thought and instead studied his surroundings.

He noted that he and Madara had arrived in a sparsely-lit cave. In the quiet that followed his recognition of his former teacher ("former" meaning: thought to have been killed by Sasuke when the fool tried to take Sasuke's body), he could hear the dripping of water off to his right, deeper into the cave, he guessed, and he couldn't see any light besides that of a small lantern a few feet away from him. This was a very deep cave.

"I'm glad you still remember me." Still holding the kunai to his throat, Orochimaru leaned close to his face. Sasuke stilled at the feeling of the man's reptilian tongue sliding up his cheek.

"Don't. Touch. Me." Sasuke ground out through his clenched teeth.

"Heheh. Don't be that way, Sasuke-kun. Orochimaru is in charge of convincing you to give up your eyes. I would prefer you gave them to me willingly. They retain more power that way, you know. You two are going to be around each other for quite a while. That is, at least, until Naruto-kun gets here." Madara stepped back into his sightline and Orochimaru leaned back from his captive with a sickening smirk on his face. Sasuke focused on Madara.

"Naruto's not coming. You'll never get what you want."

"Now, now, Sasuke. Of course he'll come after you. He promised to take you back to the village with him, remember?" Madara said in a sickly sweet voice. He closed his eyes and then reopened them to reveal his Sharingan and he paralyzed Sasuke with his stare in the moment of Sasuke's surprise.

While Sasuke glared and tried uselessly to break the gaze, Orochimaru took the kunai from his neck.

"I'm even planning on laying a bit of bait to help him find this place. Of course, by the time he gets here, I'll already have your eyes and I'll be using your life as a bargaining chip."

"You won't get these eyes." He spat. At least he could still speak. He could try for a distraction and get more information. "What about you, Orochimaru? What did this bastard offer you, for you to be helping him?"

Orochimaru smiled sadistically and humored him. "I get to pick anyone, from any bloodline, for my next body, once Madara has taken over. I don't have to go through the trouble of searching for anyone. Since you'll be unavailable I think I'll choose someone of Hyuuga blood. Of course I will also get to continue my experiments freely." The snake man shrugged. "Either way, Madara here's stronger than me. He'd kill me if I tried anything with you or your little blond friend."

"You'd better not lay a hand on him." Sasuke hissed. The thought of the snake bastard getting his hands on Naruto pissed him off immensely for some reason.

"I'm sure he'd be glad that you care, Sasuke, but you'd better start worrying about yourself." Madara said as he began to dig through a pocket beneath his cloak and, a second later, pulled two objects from the pocket. The first was a set of keys, which he proceeded to toss to Orochimaru, and the second was what seemed to be a set of handcuffs. Madara grinned and held them up close to his captive's face so that he could see them. Sasuke's stomach dropped as he recognized their function.

"Chakra repressors. I had them specifically made for your reserve level, so you can't break them or escape them. The best thing is that the cuffs don't need to be connected to each other to work and they can be pulled together and controlled should anyone, other than you of course, wish it. You're not getting out of here, Sasuke. Here, Orochimaru. Put these on him and take him to his new room. Be sure to treat him nice."

The snake took the chakra repressors from Madara's hand and he pulled Sasuke's arms behind his back. Once he closed the repressors around Sasuke's wrists, Madara released his hold on Sasuke. The younger raven pitched forward to land on his hands and knees in a sudden spell of dizziness, desperately testing his chakra flow, but where he usually could sense a type of warmth from his connection with his chakra, he now only felt an empty void.

From the ground, Sasuke glared up at Madara and Orochimaru. "When I get out of this, I'm going to kill you. Both of you. And if I don't I'm sure that Naruto will be more than happy to do it for me."

"Ah, but you'll be blind, and when he arrives here, you will only be able to lie there helplessly and listen as Naruto-kun screams for me to take his eyes and kill him."

Sasuke tried to launch himself at Madara but he was caught at the last moment by Orochimaru. His former mentor grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked back on it. Sasuke couldn't help the yelp of pain that escaped his mouth as his head snapped backwards.

"Come with me, Sasuke-kun. I think it's about time we show you your new living quarters."

Orochimaru pulled him up by the grip on his hair and pushed him towards where Sasuke had heard the sound of dripping water before. He heard laughing behind him as he was pushed roughly through what seemed to be a doorway. Sasuke guessed that Orochimaru had lent Madara one of his hideouts.

He heard the creak of metal on metal and the crash of a door being closed hard. Then he heard the click of a locking mechanism.

"Now it's just you and me Sasuke-kun. You don't know how lucky you were when you were with me before. I protected your body because it would have been mine. Now, I have no more reason to do that…"

In the darkness that surrounded him, Sasuke heard the sound of feet moving towards him. He felt two hands grab his arms and pulled them backwards so hard that they almost popped from their sockets. He grunted slightly as he was pulled bodily off the rocky floor and thrown down onto something softer. It felt like a mattress…

_Oh, hell no!_

"Stay the fuck away from me, Orochimaru! I am _not_ your toy!" he'd heard all the rumors about the man's perverted fetishes but he'd chosen to ignore them while he'd been training.

_I _knew _I should have killed Kabuto when I had the chance!_

"But you are, Sasuke-kun, whether you like it or not." The snake's voice came from beside his ear and he flinched and scrambled backwards.

Sasuke knew he couldn't fight in the condition he was in, especially not with the chakra repressors on, and Orochimaru apparently knew that he knew it. The man was laughing when Sasuke's back and head hit hard on a stone wall behind him and he coughed from the sudden shock and loss of air and leaned against his knees, trying to keep himself from passing out from the blow.

Looking up at movement above him, Sasuke watched as Orochimaru's dark shape moved closer. Unfortunately, no matter how much he wished and prayed otherwise, he knew there was no escaping the man. He could only try his best to ignore what was about to happen. And fight.

He wouldn't give these men the satisfaction of seeing him give in.

Maybe he'd get a lucky blow in. A picture of Orochimaru, lying cold and dead on the floor flashed before his eyes and he smiled.


	11. The Time of Planning

**11**

"Okay, so Madara said he needed you to give your eyes willingly?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah. Or at least, something along those lines. Not that I don't appreciate it, but I wonder why he didn't just try and take them and be done with it." Naruto said from the couch.

The group of guests that had used Tsunade's office as sleeping quarters the night before had launched into another explanation when Shikamaru had been brought into the room sometime around noon, complaining, when he saw spotted the four rogue-nin, that everything was far too troublesome.

They'd been at it for nearly six hours; Shikamaru had had Naruto explain what had happened during the fight over and over again and had asked for even the minutest of details. It was already starting to get dark.

"Well, if we assume that applies for Sasuke as well, at the very least, it means that he won't be dead by the time we get there. We all know he's stubborn as hell." After a long pause, Shikamaru turned to the busty Hokage in the chair behind her desk who was staring at him intently. He shrugged.

"Naruto's right. That's the best strategy I can think of with what we know. We should bide our time and then, when we have reinforcements, go after Sasuke."

She sighed. "Alright. Thanks Nara. We only managed to send out messengers to our allies after the battle, so they probably won't be here for a few days yet."

"So what can we do till then?! We can't just sit here!" all the current occupants of the Hokage's office- Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, Konan, Tsunade, Shikamaru, Juugo, and Suigetsu- turned to look at the source of the outburst. Karin.

"No, we can't. You're right. We can't just sit here. We can heal and train and learn all we can about Madara and the rest of the Akatsuki, most of whom I'm sure are still working under him, so that we're ready to take him down when we find him." Naruto stated in the silence that followed. "Baa-chan." Tsunade looked up at him as he continued to speak.

"I know it's not possible for these three," he gestured at Team Hawk, all of whom were sitting in the same spot they'd been last night. "Or for Konan, but, I want to know if I can be allowed to train with the Anbu until we leave. I know they've already reopened their training grounds…"

Tsunade thought about it for a moment. "Yes… I'm pretty sure I could manage that. What about you three? Sakura? Shikamaru? Kakashi-san? What do you plan to do?"

"I, for one, am going to be helping with the rebuilding of the village. It's troublesome, but we don't have a carpenter here right now and all of the blueprints were destroyed. I've read them all before and I can remember them so I have to help redraw them all." Shikamaru shrugged again and let out a tired sigh.

"That's alright. What about you two?" Tsunade looked over at Kakashi and Sakura, who were sitting on the right side of Naruto on the couch. Kakashi answered first.

"Well, I've already had Anbu training so I don't really need it, but they usually teach it one on one so… if Sakura-chan wants to train too, I can go ahead and teach her. Danzou's suspicions will fall on us if we let both of them into Anbu training at the same time."

Everyone flinched as a stream of curses flowed from Tsunade's mouth. "Damn it! I completely forgot about him. The second either he or the council finds out what we're planning we're not gonna be able to do a thing! The council's not going to let Naruto out of Konoha again without him being named as a missing-nin. There's also the fact that there are four rogue-nin in my office and I haven't made a move to report it."

At first mention of a possible road-block in their plans, Naruto had tensed up, but, caught up in her rant, Tsunade didn't notice until he spoke. His voice had become so alien that everyone's hands moved towards their weapons out of reflex.

"**Those bastards can do whatever the hell they like. I'm going after Sasuke whether they like it or not. I don't care if I become a missing-nin in the process." **Eight heads swiveled toward the sound of Naruto's voice. But at the same time, it wasn't his voice; all of them could hear what sounded like a second voice slipping over his normal one. They saw Naruto's clawed fingers each about a half-inch deep into the leather of the couch. His eyes, which were focused in an intense glare at the carpet in front of him, were beginning to flicker between red and their usual blue.

"We know that, Naruto." Konan, who was sitting to the left of him, put a hand on his knee and spoke in a calming voice. "We're all going to go after him. Calm down, now."

With a deep breath and what seemed like forever, Naruto's muscles began to unclench and the killing aura that had been pouring off of him lessened. Sakura let out a barely concealed sigh of relief and everyone else relaxed.

"Ah…Sorry about that. I've been a little out of sorts and Kyuu's a little worked up. Mentioning Madara, the elders, and Danzou in the same breath might not be the best idea." Naruto laughed lightly in an attempt to calm everyone down and put a hand up to scratch the back of his head. "Since Kyuu broke the seal Madara put on us we've kind of merged. Her instincts and emotions bleed over more easily now. And those three points seem to be a little sensitive for her."

"Why is that?" Shikamaru asked cautiously.

"I don't know, but it seems like it's really important.

It took a second for them to mull over the new information before Tsunade asked the question he'd been waiting for. Or questions.

"Wait, what?! How did you merge with a demon?! And why didn't you tell me sooner?" She asked worriedly.

"Because there's nothing you can do about it." Naruto answered simply. "When I broke the seal during the fight with the last Pein clone, it didn't come back. Kyuu was just there. But to break Madara's seal, she had to merge our chakra systems. It's okay, though. We've…hmm… I guess you could say that we fused. When I talked to her last night, after I first told you guys what happened with Madara, she told me that her chakra can't damage my body anymore and that all my senses have been enhanced. So don't worry, it's not a bad thing." He smiled "It's actually better because I can heal faster now and I can access her chakra supply without transforming. But she's exhausted right now. She's just dozing and listening to us."

They all looked skeptical for a moment - really, who would trust one of the tailed beasts so quickly just through someone else's words – but after a minute Tsunade hesitantly nodded her head. "Fine, if you say so…"

"Tsunade. I forgot to ask you…" Konan interrupted before the busty blonde could speak again nearly making everyone jump at the sudden urgency they heard in her voice. "Did you get the message I sent yesterday?"

"What message?" Tsunade asked, confused.

"I was afraid of that. During the fight, I snuck out a message asking for backup."

"Wait. You did that? I didn't even see it." Naruto said.

"It was right before Sasuke and Madara fought. But with all the concentration you were using for that jutsu, I would expect you hadn't noticed." Konan said in such a way that Naruto suspected she was teasing him.

"It must have been intercepted. That means that Madara definitely has at least one ally." Shikamaru said running his hand through his hair.

"I believe that he has more than one. Hoshigaki Kisame and Zetsu are likely to have joined him so that's at least three people we have to fight. He may have even found some new recruits. I'm not sure because he's been keeping his movements quiet for the past few months, but it's possible. Madara also seems to have created a small army of Zetsu clones. I'm not sure how." Konan replied.

"That's bad. We're going to have to have more than just us. We've got eight right now; that's assuming you're coming too, Konan." Shikamaru confirmed.

"Of course. But…if I may add, I don't think that the clones are active yet. When I snuck in to the room they are held to have a look at them one time, none of them were moving."

Shikamaru tapped one of his fingers on a knee. "That might be different, then. If he doesn't have very many strong ninja, we might be able to handle it with only a small group. Maybe only a few more than we have now. But we could possibly propose a mission to the council to destroy those clones as a cover for rescuing Sasuke."

"No. Not a good idea." Tsunade said. "We don't have the forces for that, and the council would want to know how we learned about the clones."

Shikamaru nodded and continued his previous train of thought.

"Well, we've got Sand reinforcements on their way to the village right now but they won't be able to spare very many ninja since they've got to protect their own border from the Ame and the Earth countries' invasions-"

"I think we can handle a bunch of amateur ninja from Earth just fine, thank you." A female's voice floated through the window behind Tsunade. A second later two ninja were standing behind Tsunade's chair. Both with their arms crossed. The leaf ninja in the room only tensed slightly, used to dramatic interruptions from the windows behind the Hokage's desk. The four rogue-nin in the room, Konan a little slower than the rest as a result of her injuries, all jumped up and donned kunai.

"Hey, hey! Wait!" Naruto shouted. He jumped in between the two groups. He was facing the two who had just arrived with a smile on his face and hands raised in a peace gesture. "Hey, Gaara! Umm… if you don't mind, can you not to kill these four? They didn't recognize you, is all."

The Kazekage didn't say anything and stared at Naruto, but Sasuke's team and Konan all flinched as they felt rough grains of sand slide from around their necks and as they watched it all flow back into the gourd strapped on the redhead's back. They shivered, knowing that their lives had just been spared. They put away their kunai in the same movement, eager to show they meant no harm.

"Naruto…" Gaara nodded his head in the blond's direction in greeting and then turned towards the Godaime Hokage. "Tsunade… may I ask why there are four rogue ninja in your office?"

She laughed uneasily. "Well, those three over there, they're Team Hawk, Uchiha Sasuke's team. And that woman over there is Konan. She helped Naruto when Uchiha Madara attacked him."

"And why are they here?" He asked again in the same monotone voice.

Naruto interrupted before Tsunade could and Gaara turned back to look at him. The hardness in the blond's voice caught the attention of everyone in the room. None of them had really ever heard Naruto speak one hundred percent seriously, leaving off, of course, the incident not minutes before, when the Kyuubi's emotions had apparently taken over. Besides, this was more like one hundred and twenty percent.

"Sasuke came back to the village to help me escape a trap laid by a man named Uchiha Madara with his team. Konan was originally part of the Akatsuki, but after the attack that they launched on Konoha and after Pein revived our ninja, she changed allegiances. However, when Madara left, he took Sasuke with him. Now we are planning on going after them. _That _is why they are here."

"I see." Gaara replied. He stared at Naruto for a quiet moment and Naruto held his gaze. "You're slipping." Questioning gazes were directed at the two of them but they both ignored them. Naruto sighed and averted his gaze.

"I know, but I don't really care at this particular moment. Regardless, we were wondering whether you would send someone with us when we leave to search for Sasuke." Naruto brushed the topic away easily, redirecting everyone's focus.

It was Temari who spoke this time.

"Well, duh! That's why we came! We figured something major had happened when you sent an urgent message to the midpoint village between Sand and Konoha. Me, Gaara, and Kankuro were there making sure they weren't slacking off down there when it came in. Gaara insisted on coming so we left Kankuro in his place and came-"

She was cut off when Gaara glared at her. "Temari and I will come with you." He restated what she'd said (in many less words). He stated it in such a tone of finality that no one mentioned the fact that he held the position of Kazekage and really shouldn't be going at all.

"Thanks, Gaara!" Naruto jumped up from the couch and ran around Tsunade's desk to hug the redhead. Everyone flinched, thinking Gaara would kill Naruto for the violation of personal space (what with the 'unapproachable killer' aura that surrounded him), but the man just stood there and nodded.

"Of course"

Tsunade stared at the scene with a very surprised expression, which let the rogue-nin in the room know exactly how unprecedented such actions were, and then shook her head as if to clear it. "Okay, well, now we have ten members for the team. Should that be enough, Shikamaru?"

The brunette was silent as everyone looked at him. He closed his eyes and, a moment later, he slowly nodded his head in affirmative.

"Yeah, ten should work. There should be at least three Akatsuki members. If two of ours go up against each one of theirs, then we'll still have four fresh members on our side if anything unexpected happens. Plus we'll have two medic ninja. I think we should do some group training so we can get to learn each other's fighting styles. We can leave in at least two weeks."

"Can we trust them?" Temari asked bluntly, eyeing each of the four rogue ninja in turn as her gaze swept the room. Everyone else turned to look at Naruto pointedly. He wasted no time in answering the question.

"They wouldn't be here right now if we couldn't trust them. Sasuke trusts Team Hawk with his life and I trust Sasuke and Konan with my own."

"That's good enough for me." Kakashi said, smiling through his mask. "Shall we start training in groups tomorrow, then?"

Tsunade leaned forward in her chair and, elbows on the desk in front of her; she put her head in her hands. After about a minute of silence, she looked up again and answered the question that had been directed at her.

"Yes. But you and Sakura should train together by yourselves afterwards since the Anbu training takes a lot of concentration: we can't risk her joining the Anbu along with Naruto and having the council's and Danzou's suspicions drawn to us. I'll speak to my Anbu captain and see what we can do about his training.

"Until then, Naruto can train with Team Hawk, Konan, Gaara, and Temari at my training grounds. And, Shikamaru, see if you can't put a rush on drawing out those blueprints for the villagers so that you can join them." Tsunade addressed Shikamaru as if in afterthought.

"I'll try, but it will take a week at the least."

"Alright." She sighed. "It's getting late. Gaara and Temari can stay in the rooms reserved for visiting Kage. Sakura, Shikamaru, and Kakashi. I don't believe your houses were destroyed in the blast, am I correct?" All three nodded.

"You'll be fine then. Naruto, I know your home was right in the central area of the blast. And Konan, Suigetsu, Juugo, and Karin don't have lodging, for obvious reasons. I think you five can stay in the Uchiha estate for the time being. I'm sure the brat won't mind, since you're going to rescue him. It should be livable and no one should suspect anyone is there, either. Danzou won't know you four are in the village unless you do something stupid." She gave them all a look that told them clearly not to do anything stupid.

"And, at that, I shall take my leave!" Kakashi stated, just before jumping out of the open window behind Tsunade, attracting Tsunade's glare.

"Okay, well, um, goodnight everyone." Said Sakura, following her old sensei's lead, although she used the doorway for fear of attracting her teacher's wrath.

"Bye, guys! See ya tomorrow!" Temari dragged Gaara from the room, ignoring the glares aimed at her back by said redhead.

"Ahh… so troublesome… g'night." Shikamaru slunk after the Kazekage and his sister, yawning all the way.

After their departures, only Naruto, the Hokage, Sasuke's team, and Konan were left in the large office. Naruto walked around to stand in front of Tsunade's desk.

"I've been meaning to ask you something, Baa-chan. Did the Fourth leave anything for me? A journal or the like?"

Tsunade shook her head sadly. "Not anything that anyone could find, and not for lack of trying. But he could have just hidden it very well for all I know. Minato and Kushina were like children to me and Jiraiya. I loved them and miss them to this day. You look so much like your father that I find it amazing no one's made the connection yet. But only Jiraiya, the Sandaime Hokage, and I knew your parentage. Surprisingly, all your birth records and Kushina's records have disappeared, which would be why no one ever traced your mother's maiden name to you. I suspect it was Sarutobi's doing."

Naruto scowled for a moment then sighed. "I want you to tell me about them after we bring Sasuke back. Until then I'll spend some time in Konoha's Kekkei Genkai records, and see if there's anything about mine in there."

"Of course. Just be careful. Danzou and the elders will try to get anything on you that they can, and if you're caught researching them when you don't have a reason to, from their perspective, they'll have you thrown into a jail cell as a suspected traitor and I won't be able to do a thing about it."

"Yeah, I know, Baa-chan, I'll be careful. I'll come see you after our training tomorrow morning so you can tell me when I can start Anbu training. Bye! Come on guys, I'll show you where Sasuke's house is. It's not too far from here. I've only been there once, myself, and Sasuke showed me around. It's huge!" Naruto jumped out the window while still talking. Konan and Sasuke's team, after saying their farewells, followed.

Tsunade leaned back in her chair and laid a wrist over her eyes. She let out a long tired sigh.

"I really need some sake."


	12. New Discoveries

**12**

Naruto and the group of rogue ninja made their way across the rooftops of Konoha, switching to the ground when they reached a gap where a house had fallen in the attack. Once they'd left Tsunade's office, Naruto had quietened significantly and he now led them in silence to the Uchiha district. The other four were apparently used to traveling like that, which could be expected, looking at what their leaders were like, and said nothing to break it.

Naruto was in the middle of arguing with himself, or more accurately, Kyuubi. He wasn't particularly mad, just confused.

_Why didn't you tell me that the Fourth was my father?_ He asked internally.

_**I didn't know, Kit. I didn't think he would use his own son as a Jinchuuriki. I didn't see the message in the seal until you did. The only thing I remember exactly about the moment Minato sealed me was that he…he was crying… **_She answered back trailing off, realizing that Minato had been mourning for his son's future. Naruto was quiet for a few moments as he ordered his thoughts for another question.

_Why did you attack Konoha back then? Was it Madara?_

_**How did you know?**_ She asked, after a silence that suggested Naruto was right in his guess.

Naruto shrugged internally, barely paying attention to where his body was going. _I guessed. You've never seemed as mad at anyone as you did at Madara, not even at the Fourth. And that's the only subject that I know of that would make you get that mad… What did he do?_

There was a pause of silence, then…

_**Your mother, she found a way to let me have a life of my own while I was still sealed. I was able to mate during Konoha's peacetime. But Madara took my pups, my kits. He stole them from our home while I was hunting for food. **_She growled then. _**He killed my mate. Then the bastard told me that he would kill my pups if I didn't attack the village for him. He could have, too; they were only a few weeks old.**_

_Why didn't he just use his Sharingan? I thought that could control you._

_**Madara said he didn't want to waste his energy.**_

_So you attacked the village._

_**It was the only thing I could do! He was going to kill my babies!**_ She said loudly, getting defensive.

_No, no, no! I'm not blaming you! I just… wait. What happened to them?! Your kits, I mean._

Kyuu's voice saddened instantly. _**Madara killed them anyway. The Fourth told me that, right before he had to seal me. That's why he died, you know, because he tried to save my pups from Madara. If he hadn't fought Madara earlier that night, he would have survived the sealing.**_

_Why did he go to fight Madara?_ Naruto asked carefully, trying not to upset her, although, from the information that was coming to light, he was the one who should be upset.

_**Namikaze, **_A small, sad smile came to Naruto's face at hearing his father's last name, knowing it was a inopportune moment, but unable to feel sorry for the gesture,_** said he'd felt an Uchiha's chakra signature near my home and was worried for their life, as wandering near there was forbidden at that time in the village.**_ She paused to grin, and Naruto figured he probably didn't want to know exactly why it was forbidden._** By the time he found the Uchiha, I was already gone to the village and Madara was about to kill my kits. Namikaze tried to stop Madara and they fought. Madara eventually fled, but my kits were already too injured, and they died. **_Kyuubi paused, her words almost choked off by her grief, but she continued.

_**At that point, Namikaze came back to the village to find it defending against my attack. He calmed me for a minute or so and then told me what happened. It probably wasn't one of his better ideas. **_Naruto heard soft snort and added his own, seeing the stupidity of the action in retrospect. _**I was nearly driven mad with rage. I resumed my attack on the village. Your father tried to stop me, but because my rampage had caused a lot of stress on your mother and Madara had injured her, and Namikaze's focus was split apart so bad, he was left with no other choice than to seal me in a child. His child…you.**_

_Then you didn't attack the village of your own volition?_

_**If no one had bothered me, I would have never touched the village; I wouldn't have gone near it. I even hunted away from it so that the village could have its meat. **_Kyuu answered.

Naruto grinned at the fox. _That's good! When I become hokage, they won't say a bad thing about you again. I'll bring Madara to justice._

Hearing of her host's mantra, and of his plan, the fox's mood brightened.

_**You'll have to become hokage first, little one.**_ She replied.

Seeing that the old fox had cheered up, Naruto retreated to a more silent part of his mind. He knew the fox was still tired from breaking the seal and he left her to sleep. When he became more conscious of his surroundings, he realized he was smiling and his small company of rogue ninja was staring at him as if he were crazy. He realized that his emotions must have been flashing over his face throughout the conversation he'd just had.

"Sorry…just having a talk with Kyuu. Oh! Hey, we're here." The group turned as a whole to examine what Naruto was now pointing at.

They now stood at the beginning of the dark, lampless main street of the Uchiha district. Looking at it at this time of night, as it was nearly full dark by now, the abandoned houses and streets looked unnaturally haunted. Apparently, Sasuke had never felt the urge to use his inheritance to repair the old district. Not that Naruto would blame him for it.

The little group kept moving at Naruto's initiative and, after a few minutes of wandering through the deserted streets, found Sasuke's old home. It was not in as much a state of disrepair, as the other houses of the block were, as it was of disuse. Being the type of person Sasuke was, even if it was the place where such a great tragedy took place, he would not have left it to rot. But it was rather dirty and unkempt, which was to be expected since Sasuke had not occupied the place for a few years.

There were untamed shrubs and trees throughout the yard and a thick layer of leaves littered the ground. One could see a thin layer of dust covering the wrap-around porch that surrounded the old-style traditional home.

Naruto stepped up to the front door and slid it open easily enough; it hadn't been locked in a long while. He ushered his four companions in before him and then followed them, shutting the old wooden sliding door behind him. Using the light that flowed in from a damaged rice paper door, he went up to one of the wall mounted lamps on the wall of the hallway and touched it, sending a small amount of chakra through it and activating the chakra circuits, which slowly lit the other lamps, leaving them in a moderately lit hallway.

"We're gonna have to clean up the house for when Sasuke gets back." He said, grinning at them. "But we'll work on that later. If you go down this hallway and to the first branch-off on the right there are two bathrooms. You can use them at the same time, and since they haven't had the guts to mess with Sasuke's property yet, the water is still on. The first hallway to the left leads to the bedrooms. You guys- and girls-" He interrupted himself as the two women of the group raised their eyebrows "-can use any of them except for the last three. Those were Sasuke's, Itachi's, and their parents' rooms.

"And last, but definitely not least, the second branch to the left at the end of this hallway leads to the kitchen and the exterior of the house. I'm going to go in the kitchen now and see if there are any stores of dried meat or anything like that. Maybe I can find some sealed up rice. Or Ramen." He patted his stomach as if to say he was hungry and his grin widened further.

"Feel free to sleep lightly, but I'll go around and activate the old Uchiha perimeter traps. If someone comes near the house, believe me. We'll know it. Even a Special Ops Anbu can't get through them. I've seen them try, too, several times." Naruto barked a laugh at the memory of Anbu hastily retreating from the estate as alarms screeched, and as paper bombs, along with summoned kunai, shuriken, and even animal summons attacked them. They'd tried to get in not long after Sasuke had left, while Naruto had watched from afar. Thankfully, it seemed that they had deactivated over time.

A similar picture seemed to come to Suigetsu's mind as well, because he was smirking as he started down the hall, turning towards the bathrooms. Karin muttered something under her breath resembling 'scatter-brained idiots' (Naruto wasn't sure whether she was referring to the Anbu or him and Suigetsu, because she had a small smirk on her face as well.) before heading the same way. Juugo and Konan just bid Naruto their goodnights and left to claim their bedrooms.

The blond stood by himself in the empty hallway for a few moments. He shook his head in amazement at how fast the four had made themselves at home. He started down the hallway and followed his own directions to the kitchen. It was a rather wide and long hallway, unadorned by pictures of any kind. An empty vase stood atop a small table at the end of it, where it branched off to the left and right.

Naruto kept to the left hallway and, after a minute or two, it opened up into a spacious but cozy kitchen. Waist height cabinets rose from the floor and were topped by what seemed to be granite, or at least some sort of precious stone, countertops. There was a small fridge next to the doorway from which he'd emerged and a tall pantry to his left, on the opposite side. In the center of the room was a large table that seated six; with two chairs on either of the long sides and one on each of the shorter ends.

Naruto didn't go towards any of these things, however. He walked around the table and to the other end of the room. From there, he continued through the open doorway to the smooth wooden deck overlooking a traditional garden, as overgrown as it was, complete with a small pond. The garden extended out nearly twenty yards before being taken over by a small forest of trees.

There were no lights on in this part of the property and it was completely dark now, since the sky was filled with clouds and there were no stars or moon to see by, but Naruto stepped off the deck easily and walked slowly to the edge of the pond, unhindered. He took off his shoes and rolled up the legs of his pants before stepping into the water and sitting down on the edge of it. The family of surviving koi in the pool darted away quickly as the surprisingly warm water rippled with the movement.

Naruto stared down at his reflection in the water. He barely noticed a second presence as it came up behind him.

"It's not going to change, you know. 'Mirror, mirror on the wall' and all that; you know the fairytale. It's not gonna give you any answers either. Believe me, I would know. If water told you the answer to any questions you had, I would know everything." Suigetsu's unusually quiet voice floated to him.

Naruto leaned his head back to see the man standing behind him. He closed his eyes and turned to look out at the dark forest as he motioned to Suigetsu for him to sit beside him. As the man silently settled himself down, Naruto sighed.

"I just want to know what to do. I've chased after Sasuke for years, then he finally comes back on his own, only to have Madara-,' He spat out the name like poison. "-come and take him away. I find out that I've got a kekkei genkai that's apparently extinct and that my father's the yondaime hokage-!" his voice rose in volume until it finally broke and he pulled his knees up to his chest and pressed his forehead against them.

Suigetsu studied the overwhelmed blond for a moment, and then he spoke.

"Well…it seems to me that you only have to do what you've been doing. The last two seem like good things. Just think of this as another retrieval mission for Sasuke. This time is only different because we get to kill a very big git in the process."

Naruto snorted involuntarily but then sobered. "But, I don't know if I can do it this time. Madara… I don't know if I can beat him. I…I just have a bad feeling about this whole situation."

"Well, you've been doing well enough from what I've heard. You took out Pein's clones without too much trouble. If you can get that kekkei genkai in working order, you might just be better than Boss Sasuke," Naruto scoffed at Suigetsu's title for Sasuke. "With all of us together, we can beat Madara easy. Then we can get Boss back and figure out what to do from there. That feeling you're getting is probably just nerves or something."

Naruto went quiet. He released a pent-up breath in the form of a loud sigh. Suigetsu saw the blond's muscles relax and then tense again as the demon container rose to his feet. He looked down at Suigetsu and put a hand out to the man.

Suigetsu grabbed the hand and allowed himself to be pulled up.

"Thank you." Naruto said quietly. "I needed that."

"I know."

"You don't seem the type to give helpful speeches. Why?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I'm not usually, but you remind me of Boss. The only real difference I can see is that you have less of a killing aura around you all the time. Team Hawk can't get him back by ourselves, like you said, so we need help. Your words were sincere, back in that forest. I trust you."

The two men's eyes met, and an understanding was silently forged. Naruto nodded his head slightly in acknowledgement. Suigetsu nodded back at him, and then turned around. Walking back into Sasuke's houses, he raised his hand in a gesture of farewell. "Night." Naruto watched him go. After a moment, he walked to the perimeter of the house to begin activating the traps for any unwanted intruders.

**xXx**

He stepped back into his boss' home only to see his red-haired comrade leaning against the inside wall.

"He's right, that's definitely not like you." She said.

"I know. It's strange. I just feel like I want to help him. Like, if I don't, I'll be sorry."

Karin pushed off the wall to fall in beside Suigetsu as he walked through the kitchen. "I got that same feeling listening to him today. He's a rare person. I think he'll get Sasuke back if it kills him."

Suigetsu nodded then he turned to her as they reached the split hallway and walked straight across it and through the branch to find a large, furnished living room. Once there, he put his hands on her shoulders and pressed her against the wall.

"You know, I think that you enjoy making me jealous, Karin." He said possessively. "First Sasuke and now Naruto."

She grinned mischievously at the man. "Oh, but it's _fun_, Sui." She reached up on her toes to whisper in his ear. "I _love_ to make you jealous…"

He grinned back. "You'll be sorry…" he leaned down to place his lips gently against hers. More gently than one would have guessed he could be responsible for. She deepened the kiss easily, making it more heated. They parted for breath. She smirked.

"Maybe… or maybe not…"


	13. Enlightening

**13**

Naruto's first thought when he woke to the sound of shouts and yelling was that they'd been discovered. That Danzou had somehow found out about Team Hawk and Konan and had brought Anbu with him to attack them. His second thought, however, and perhaps the more frightening of the two, was that Madara might have come back.

Naruto swiftly rolled out of his bed, snatching up and slipping on the long jacket he'd received from old Fukasaku as he ran out of his room. He followed the hallways towards where the voices were coming from. They led him through the kitchen and out into the far side of the garden, where he found Suigetsu clinging to the back of the other male member of Sasuke's team, Juugo, he remembered. Glancing around, he saw Karin and Konan standing next to each other off to the side. As he made his way towards them, they noticed him and moved to meet him at a midpoint.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Well," Karin started. "Juugo is a bit bipolar. He can be as nice as can be to his best friend in the entire world one moment," he nodded anxiously for her to continue. "And brutally murder them the next. He's quite insane. He was one of Orochimaru's supposed failures."

Konan took over, seeing the unsettled look on Naruto's face at this news. "It appears that only Sasuke can control his mood swings- apparently Juugo recognizes a bigger demon when he sees one- and seeing as Sasuke's not here at the moment…" They all turned to look at the struggle between Suigetsu and Juugo. It was apparent that if something was not done soon Juugo would soon be rampaging down the streets of Konoha.

Naruto thought for a moment. _A bigger demon, huh?_ He grinned. _Let's just see about that._

"Hey, Suigetsu! It's my turn! Let him go for a second!" he shouted. He slid into a mock fighting position to demonstrate his intentions. Suigetsu looked as suitably flummoxed as he could for someone being swung around through the air.

"Whaat?! What the heck are you thinking? Are you an idiot? You're still building your chakra back up, aren't you? Why would you want to fight this?!"

"I could say the same to you." Naruto argued, raising an eyebrow.

"Fine." Suigetsu jumped off Juugo's back to land less than elegantly. He was over at Naruto's side in a moment. "You have a try and see how you like it."

"I will. Thank you for suggesting it." Naruto smiled mockingly.

"Brat."

"Baka."

At this, Suigetsu deemed the conversation too childish to continue with, and went to sit on the deck to pout (although he would never call it that). Naruto turned to the amused girls watching in the background. "I'll be back in a minute. Would you girls mind getting us something to eat for breakfast, please? I found some rice and salted bacon last night."

Konan answered him in affirmative while Karin grumbled something about sexist people always thinking it was the women's job to cook. They both headed inside.

"Well, I'll get started, then."

Naruto walked towards Juugo, who had turned his attention to destroying trees. "Ne, Juu-san! You really should calm down! You're destroying Sasuke's trees!"

That statement only served to turn Juugo's attention towards him. The almost overly large man studied him for a moment before falling into a full-out sprint towards the blond. He raised a muscled arm and pulled it back to hit Naruto with the full power of the charge.

At the last moment, Naruto raised his own hand and intercepted the blow smoothly. He held onto Juugo's fist and caught the man's other hand as it was aimed at him as well, flipping him over himself bodily and directing the man to land on his back. It surprised him how easy it was to block the blows. He'd only ever used his natural chakra with high level opponents, such as Pein and Madara, or in simple training. Not to say that Juugo was low-level, far from it in fact, but it seemed that Naruto was simply out of his league.

_Hey, Kyuu? Want to play for a minute? I need to get Juugo under control. Apparently he needs a demon to scare him out of this fit of his and I think we fit the description. Actually, I think we can outdo even Sasuke in this category._ He grinned.

_**Sounds fun, Kit.**_ She purred happily back to him. A picture of her gaping jaws yawning widely flashed behind his eyes at the same time. _**But remember, even though you won't transform, you'll still gain some rather vulpine features when you come into contact with my chakra.**_

_Got it. _Naruto grinned as he allowed a bit of Kyuubi's chakra to leak out of his body slightly; just enough to make his eyes bleed red and for Kyuubi's voice to overlap his own.

"_**Juugo! Calm down!"**_ Naruto's voice rang out through the sudden silence of Sasuke's garden.

Juugo froze upon hearing the not quite completely demonic voice.

"_**Look at me."**_

The large man only had to tilt his head slightly to obey Naruto's murmured command. The blond could see Juugo's entire body shudder when their eyes met. There was a wild element within Juugo's eyes. Something that seemed alien. Orochimaru's curse tattoo, if one was to judge by the small tattoo-like marks that were spreading across the man's body. Knowing this was what Karin had meant by "failure", Naruto felt pity grow in him, but he didn't allow it to reach the expression on his face.

"_**Sasuke may not be here right now, but you will listen to me until he comes back. I don't want to have to kill you before we leave to find him, and I especially don't want this to get in the way of our operations. If you have any problems with that, tell me now."**_ Naruto growled out, baring his teeth.

He saw something click in Juugo's eyes. The man blinked and shrank back. His eyes cleared and he ducked his head, hiding the receding curse mark tattoo. "No…no. Forgive me, Naruto-san. It's not by my own wishes that I do… that." Juugo uttered softly, so only Naruto could hear.

Naruto chuckled and he let the red hue of the Kyuubi's chakra retreated back into his body. When he spoke, his voice was his own once again. "Its fine, Juu-san. Besides that wasn't aimed towards you. That was for the benefit of your little demon. If it's alright with you, how about we go talk to Granny Tsunade later this afternoon and see if she can do anything about this condition of yours?"

Juugo looked up at Naruto and smiled thankfully. He pushed himself up off the ground before Naruto could offer a hand. "I would be very grateful Naruto-san."

"Just call me Naruto, Juu-san."

"Then I insist you call me Juugo."

"Aww, you don't like your nickname?" Naruto pouted.

Juugo laughed lightly, but didn't answer. He began to walk back towards the house. Naruto fell in beside him. The blond caught sight of Suigetsu's expression and grinned. "Ne, Juugo, I would say that your teammate over there has never seen anyone tame your demon like that before."

Juugo laughed quietly. "I would say that you're right. Even Sasuke-sama had a hard time of it, I've heard."

Naruto's eyes grew large and round and his grin reached his eyes for the first time in a while. "Ha-ha! Now I finally have something I can brag about to that Teme!" he jumped into the air and clapped his hands like an overjoyed child. "He won't say it, but he'll be jealous."

"You were rivals?" Juugo asked.

"Well, yeah, I guess you could say that. He was always so much better than me at everything. There was this one time though, when we went on a mission to the country of waves, we were attacked by 'The Demon' Zabuza. We were neck and neck."

Suigetsu was at his side in a moment at the mention of the previous owner of his sword. He'd heard mention of the mission from Sasuke once, but the Uchiha had never fully told the story of what had happened. Of course he'd heard the rumors, but they were just that. Rumors.

"What happened?" Suigetsu asked interestedly.

Naruto smiled. He'd meant to mention the mission in passing, but at Suigetsu's child-like interest, he had the urge to tell the whole thing.

"Well, to begin with, the mission was a C-rank escort mission. We were supposed to take a bridge builder back to his village to complete what is now the Naruto Bridge." He blushed in pride and embarrassment remembering that Tazuna had named the bridge after him. "But, after two ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist attacked us, the bridge builder convinced us to continue the mission as an A-rank. But keep in mind that we had only just recently graduated from the academy."

"Your team leader allowed it to continue?" Juugo asked, surprised.

"Well, there was a time frame that needed to be met. Plus, Sasuke, Sakura, and I were all in agreement to continue it. We convinced Kakashi-sensei to go along with us."

"What? That little pink-haired brat fought against the Demon Zabuza?!" Suigetsu scoffed. "No way!"

Naruto smiled. "I dare you to say that to her face; you won't be able to walk again for a week. And that's even if she heals you afterwards. Anyway, almost immediately after we stepped foot in the land of waves, Zabuza attacked us. Kakashi-sensei took him on first, while we protected the bridge builder. But at one point during the fight, Kakashi-sensei got caught in a water prison."

"That always was one of Zabuza's favorite techniques." Suigetsu commented.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, he said as much. After Zabuza created a clone to go after us, me and Sasuke rescued Sensei from the Water prison with a shadow shuriken trick-"

"With Naruto as the shadow shuriken. It was a rather brilliant tactic if you ask me." Kakashi's voice drifted down from the tree they were passing under. Naruto didn't so much as flinch, while Juugo and Suigetsu jumped and Suigetsu shot a glare up at the Jounin.

"Thanks, Sensei!" Naruto said for the compliment as he jumped down from the tree to land in front of them. "Want to join us for breakfast?"

"As long as I get to tell the rest of the story."

Naruto laughed. "Alright, then."

The four of them entered the kitchen at that moment. There were six bowls of rice on the counter closest to the stove (Karin had apparently sensed Kakashi's chakra outside) and there was some bacon stacked on a large plate on the table. They each grabbed a bowl and a pair of wooden chopsticks from an open drawer and sat down at the table, with Konan and Karin on the two ends and the men in between.

"Itadakimasu!" Naruto said loudly. The bowl in front of him was empty in seconds, along with two pieces of bacon. He got up and refilled the bowl with rice from the large cooker on the stove and, instead of sitting back down, he leaned against the counter and ate slowly from his second bowl.

Kakashi smiled at his antics and smiled at the two women. "Thank you for the food, ladies. Now, the boys were all talking about my team's first big mission to the Land of Waves. Naruto left off at when we were battling against Zabuza Momochi." He looked around the table and, having obtained everyone's attentions, he continued.

"After Naruto and Sasuke freed me from Zabuza's water prison, we continued our fight. I eventually gained the upper hand with my Sharingan and he was knocked unconscious. Unfortunately, his partner masqueraded as a hunter-nin and pulled Zabuza from right under our noses.

"Of course, neither of us got away without injury and, during the timeframe of rest that the team had, I set Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura to climbing trees." He smiled under his mask as he saw the confused looks on his tablemates' faces and the grin on Naruto's.

"What do you mean, climbing trees?" Suigetsu was the first to voice the question and, before Kakashi could get the chance to confuse them further, Naruto answered for him.

"He had us climbing trees using only our feet to learn chakra control. Since we were only Genin, we hadn't been shown how to do it, yet."

Kakashi glared at him playfully for ruining his fun. But Naruto knew that Kakashi would have teased the others for forever, confusing them with riddles, if he hadn't interposed. His sensei could be so childish sometimes.

"Anyway, Sakura was the first one to reach the top of the trees we were using, so I sent her ahead to guard Tazuna, the bridge builder we were protecting. Naruto and Sasuke spent the rest of the time we had there. I remember one time they came back and it was already completely dark outside. They were both supporting each other they'd worked themselves so hard. Neither of them won, either. They made it to the tops of their trees at the same time. I think that's what sparked their rivalry. The funny thing was that both of them seemed to think that the other was getting ahead of them, when they were actually the same level most of the time." Kakashi laughed.

"So, what happened to the rest of the mission?" Karin asked, smiling a little.

"Well, Sasuke, Sakura and I left early one morning. We left Naruto because he'd stayed up all night training. While we were on the bridge, Zabuza attacked us again, with his partner, Haku, in tow. Zabuza and I went at it again while Sasuke took on Haku. The only problem was that Haku had a Kekkei Genkai. You've probably heard of it if you've been to the wave country. It's from that clan with the ice-style jutsu. Sasuke wasn't prepared to handle Haku, but the boy trapped him in a sort of mirror technique. That was the point at which Naruto showed up. Unfortunately for us, he was a bit of an idiot at that point in time."

Naruto put his hands up in a placating gesture at a glance from Kakashi. "I know it was a stupid thing to do. I just couldn't think of anything else to do at that moment."

"What did he do? I'm curious." Konan asked with a small smile on her face.

Kakashi let out a patient sigh and shook his head. "He jumped right into the ring of mirrors, where Sasuke was trapped. After getting our hopes up with a big entrance, too... After that, though, I was fighting Zabuza and his damned silent killing technique, so I couldn't see their fight at all. Speaking of… Naruto. Neither you nor Sasuke ever told us what happened in Haku's trap. Care to elaborate now?"

Naruto's face, which had been red in remembering his idiotic actions, sobered slightly. "Yeah, I don't mind…" Everyone at the table turned to look towards Naruto. "By the time I got into the ring of mirrors, Sasuke was already pretty hurt by all the needles that Haku kept throwing around. Haku's technique worked by his moving so quickly from mirror to mirror that it was almost impossible to see him. His mirrors were unbreakable so the only way to break the jutsu was to catch Haku. At one point, Sasuke came up with the idea of using my shadow clones-"

"You could use shadow clones at that age? Impressive." Karin commented. Naruto shrugged embarrassedly with a nod to acknowledge the complement and then continued.

"He came up with the idea to use my shadow clones to distract Haku's attention while Sasuke focused one of his fire jutsu on him. That's when Sasuke started to use his Sharingan, too; he mumbled something about how his eyes were adjusting to Haku's speed. Haku finally tired me out, though. Me and Sasuke were stuck with maybe fifty or so needles each. I collapsed and Haku went after me…"

The kitchen was silent, waiting for Naruto to continue. They had all long since finished their food and they were all absorbed in the story. Kakashi was piecing all the parts together.

"Sasuke took the hit for me. He knew it was a trap and…I looked up to see Sasuke standing over me and then he fell and he looked…" he cleared his throat. His listeners were silent, not even daring to breath. "All I remember firsthand until a little while after that is that I was really, really pissed. That was the first time Kyuubi came out. She broke Haku's Jutsu while I was unconscious and healed me while she did it. Next thing I know, I'm about to kill Haku. But just before I landed the hit, he disappeared. I learned later that he had gone to protect Zabuza." Kakashi took over at that point, recognizing where the two parts coincided, and everyone turned back to him.

"Haku took my killing blow just before it reached Zabuza. It surprised me and gave Zabuza a bit of space to work with when I had to jump back to avoid an attack. Zabuza was amazing to say the least. I had taken out both of his arms and he could still fight pretty well. But then, of course, Gato showed up."

"Wait, you mean, _that_ Gato? That little midget who hired people then tried to kill them so he wouldn't have to pay them?" Suigetsu asked.

"You knew him?"

"Yeah. He hired me once for an assassination on one of his enemies' little girls. I refused and he sent a whole army of thugs after me. I would've killed him myself if Orochimaru hadn't gotten to me."

"Well, yeah, that's actually what happened, basically. Gato and a whole bunch of hired punks met us on the bridge. Gato decided to disgrace Haku's body, which wasn't one of his better ideas. Naruto lent Zabuza one of his kunai and the man charged straight into them and killed Gato; I can't even remember how many blades he was stabbed with."

"I thought you said both of his arms were out."

"He held the kunai in his mouth." Naruto answered Juugo's question.

"Damn. He _was_ a demon. I'm glad I have his sword." Suigetsu grinned wickedly.

"But how did Sasuke-kun survive?" Karin asked having remembered the emotion Naruto had expressed at remembering the event and having interpreted it as resulting from Sasuke's death.

"Haku didn't really kill Sasuke. He only put him in a temporary death state, like he did to Zabuza when we were about to capture him. Thankfully, he hadn't grown as hardened to killing as Zabuza would have liked." Kakashi said. They could see under his mask the outline of a smile.

"I wish that this Haku were still alive. I would like to know more about his kekkei genkai. It seems interesting." Konan said.

"It was certainly hard to go up against." Naruto commented dryly.

"Why did the bridge builder name the bridge 'Naruto'?" Juugo asked, having noticed that little fact at the beginning of the story.

"Naruto convinced Tazuna's, the bridge-builder's, grandson, whose adopted father had been killed by Gato, that he needed to fight back, and he went around their village and passed on Naruto's words to the villagers. Every single one of the villagers came to fight against that mob of Gato's and we scared em' all off…Geez… just talking about it reminds me of how beat up I was…" Kakashi sighed. "Zabuza sure gave me a run for my money." He sighed again and pushed his chair back up to stand. "But, anyway, we'd better get going. We've gotta meet Sakura, Temari, and Gaara. Plus, I'm going to go talk to Yamato and Sai and see if they'll come with us."

"Oh, yeah! I didn't see them when I came back! Are they okay? I mean, I know they're alive, but…"

"Yeah, they're fine, Naruto. I'll try and get them to come out with me to the training grounds. Either way, I'll be there soon. Tell Sakura to wait for me there, okay?" Kakashi walked around the table and raised a hand in a wave then jumped up onto the roof and to the side of town where Naruto knew Captain Yamato's house to be, since it should still be standing.

There was silence for a moment. Naruto interrupted it. "Well? Shall we leave now?"

"Might as well." Konan answered.

The two of them walked out to the forested area behind Sasuke's house. They were shortly followed by Karin, Suigetsu, and Juugo. Once they were a safe distance into the trees, the five of them jumped into the branches and headed towards the hokage's private training grounds, which were a fair distance away from the village and which were hidden behind multiple layers of jutsu so as to not disturb the villagers if the hokage wished to let loose.

Tsunade had lent it to Naruto for his training with his Rasengan before, so he'd asked to use it for their purposes this time around. She'd allowed it. They would work out a training schedule after today, along with training partners. Then they would search for and go after Sasuke.

And, of course, kill Madara and his cronies.


	14. Surprises

**14**

Naruto and company entered the training grounds not an hour after leaving Sasuke's home. It wasn't too difficult to make their way there without anyone spotting them since most everyone was preoccupied with the beginning stages of rebuilding. Throughout the early morning, carpenters and merchants who had been sent for had been arriving. Most of the regular villagers of Konoha were meandering around the village, searching for possessions, or in some cases, family members and friends.

It was too early yet for them to feel happy about the realization that they had survived. At the moment, the most anyone could hope for was a state of shock; a pallor that surrounded the village. And the only group that didn't seem to be affected were the ninja of the village. Tsunade had called a meeting for all the ninja that had fought against Madara's attack. She had told them, in no uncertain terms, that most of them were lucky to be alive. And it was hard to be sad about that, really.

All the ninja of the village were energetic, unless they were injured, of course. Anyone who could work did so with great pleasure, and the frames of buildings were already being raised. But none of them were aware enough of their surroundings to notice Naruto's group travelling through it and they made their way to the training grounds with ease.

Seconds after walking into the large open field surrounded by trees, almost a mile and a half from the village's walls, the four of them were greeted by the sound of a huge explosion and the forms of two rapidly moving figures moving past them.

The blond recognized both of them as Sakura and Temari. They were being chased by what looked like, no, what _was_ a large cloud of sand. Sakura saw Naruto out of the corner of her eye and shouted to him before continuing her retreat.

"Help, please!"

Naruto grinned. He turned back to his companions, all of whom were amused by the sight.

"Want to join in?"

Suigetsu and Karin both grinned back at him while Konan and Juugo just smiled and nodded.

"Okay, then. Me and Konan will be in Sakura and Temari's group. Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo will be on Gaara's team. How's that? Good? Alright! Let's go!"

The two groups separated and shot off to join their respective teams. Naruto, once they were on their way, immediately sent twenty clones, in the guises of him and his assumed teammates, out in all directions to get Gaara's sand off their tail.

Naruto and Konan caught up with the two kunoichi shortly after that. Both Sakura and Temari pulled kunai on them the moment they stepped onto the branch they were apparently resting on.

"Hold on! We're on your team!" Naruto summoned five more kagebunshin to demonstrate he was indeed the real thing and sent them off as well as soon as the two of them lowered their guards.

"I'm guessing you sent the other three to join Gaara?" Temari asked.

"Yeah. Not that he needs any help, though."

How did you know we were here? We were masking our chakra." Sakura asked.

"I can sense chakra probably just as well as Karin now, if not better. That sage training I went through did a lot to magnify my abilities."

She nodded in understanding.

"How long have you guys been at it?" he asked.

"Only about half an hour. Gaara suggested that we have a quick warm-up before training starts." Temari stated wryly.

Naruto barked a short laugh. "There aren't too many people who would consider this a quick warm-up," he said, noting the out-of-breath state of the two women. "But Gaara is one of them. Not to mention-"

He stilled suddenly, then a playful smile broke out on his face. "Those rats! Suigetsu just took out one of my clones! And Gaara just took out five!" The blond turned to his three teammates. "Let's go get them."

Sakura noticed the eager look on Naruto's face and smiled in understanding. He always had used training to forget.

"So, who are we pairing up with?" She asked. Temari and Konan just looked at each other and shrugged.

"Well I'm gonna take Gaara, of course. I think you would have a fun match with Juugo, Sakura. He's pretty strong." She nodded. "What do you two want to do?" Naruto directed the question at Konan and Temari.

"I wouldn't be a very good match with Suigetsu, with his water abilities, but I can take Karin down. Can you take Suigetsu, Temari-san?"

"Of course!"

"Then we're all set?" The other three nodded to him. "Alright then. Let me tell you where our targets are…"

**xXx**

She crept along from tree to tree. Suigetsu was a few feet behind and to the left of her. She made to jump to the next branch but lost her balance as an abnormally strong gust of wind sent her careening sideways when the branch she stood on jerked and moved under her.

Suigetsu shot forward to steady her but was forced back when some needlelike objects shot towards him. She managed to catch herself with another smaller branch below the one she'd stood on and jumped back to join Suigetsu.

"They're here." She said as she sensed two revealed chakras. "It's the wind-witch Gaara was telling us about and Konan."  
"I have a name, you know! It's Temari." came a woman's voice from above them.

Konan and Suigetsu looked towards the voice and saw its producer standing in a short kimono with a large, open fan held in her right hand.

Next to her stood Konan in her newly acquired garb of something resembling a Jounin's uniform, only the vest was black and only had two scroll compartments on the front. She wore a long-sleeve fishnet shirt under that and her pants were long, beige khakis that ended at her ankles and were pulled into the tops of the regular sandals.

"Shall we fight?" Konan asked with a smirk.

"Why not?" Suigetsu pulled his sword from his back and jumped forward, with Karin not far behind.

**xXx**

"Hello, Juugo-san. Would you like to spar with me?"

They were in the middle of a small clearing on the forest floor. They'd been so quiet in their arrival that only at Sakura's question did a deer bolt from just beyond the edge of the trees.

Juugo smiled slightly. "Please go easy on me."

**xXx**

"Now we finally get to have our rematch!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I'll win this time." Gaara replied

"I won't use Kyuubi this time." Naruto told the red-haired kage.

"You don't really have a choice in that, do you? Since the two of you merged, her chakra is nearly your own, now."

"True enough. But I won't use the cloak."

"Have it your way. Don't go too easy on me, though." The red-head said with a raised eyebrow

"Oh, shut up, Gaara! I bet you could take me even if I had the cloak on. C'mon. Let's go!"

The pair of them stood in a setting similar to where they'd last fought. However, this time, instead of being in the treetops, they mirrored each other at the ends of a small oblong field.

Gaara's wall of sand flowed into itself in a continuous wave at his back and he stood in his near famous cross-armed stance, his gourd (although it was now noticeably larger than it had been the last time Naruto had seen him) still strapped across his back. He wore a more battle-suited version of his hokage's robes; loose fitting brown pants and a dark red shirt with a long, beige cloth draped from around his neck to his waist, same as it was the time he and Naruto had met after his demon had been extracted from him.

Naruto stood facing him in the clothes he'd "borrowed" from Sasuke's closet (borrowed meaning that they'd probably end up in such a bad condition that he wouldn't be able to return them). He'd managed to find some long grayish colored pants that fit him pretty well, taking in the fact that Sasuke had been twelve the last time he'd worn them; Sasuke always had been taller than him, and Naruto hadn't filled out too much anyway, to his irritation.

Besides that, though, Naruto had also discovered a shirt of Sasuke's, without the flared neck. He'd found that he didn't really mind wearing the fan Uchiha crest that covered that back of the navy blue shirt. At the time that he'd found it, he'd actually wondered about the fact- why that particular thought would make itself known in the first place- but he'd pushed it to the back of his mind.

Naruto slowly pulled a kunai from his own weapons pouch; on guard for any movement from Gaara. He dropped into an almost unnoticeable crouch, but he could see Gaara tense at seeing the possibly offensive stance. He brought his hands together and concentrated his chakra.

Gaara, noticing the blond's suddenly active chakra, sent his sand cloud shooting towards Naruto, wondering just how much he'd learned over the years. If he'd been expecting to get a hit in on the man, however, he was sorely mistaken. Just as the sand came within inches of the blond's face, he disappeared. Gaara hadn't even seen the man move. There was only a puff of dust left in his place.

"You told me not to go easy on you. Don't hold back on _me_."

Gaara didn't even get the chance to answer back as he dodged a fist that came within inches of his face. Naruto's attack didn't stop there, apparently, and, just as Gaara's sand reached its guarding position by his face, Gaara was pushed backwards by some powerful force, throwing him almost twenty feet before he found his feet again. Naruto jumped back and grinned at him, allowing Gaara to recover. It was only a spar after all. No need to go all out.

"Where did you learn that?"

"It was part of my Sage training."

"That was what your master was trained in, right?"

"Yeah. I'll tell you about it later."

"Hn."

Naruto created two Kagebunshin and had them create two Rasengan in both of his hands. He started forward and Gaara dodged to the left, only to be met by one of the two clones who also held a Rasengan in hand. Seeing that he would be trapped between the two of them, he pulled all of his sand over him and made his shield.

When all three Rasengan hit, the shield barely held. But considering the power that even one Rasengan had, that was impressive in and of itself. As Naruto stepped back to behold the damage he had wrought, he saw hairline cracks in what appeared to be a material not unlike diamond. He could see a partially distorted form of Gaara crouching low. At a gesture from the form, the shield disintegrated into sand once more and Gaara stood up fully.

Naruto looked on with an approving look. "_Nice…"_

Gaara smirked, only slightly. "Thanks."

Naruto jumped directly to his left as he sensed two tentacle-like chakras darting in from behind him. The two sand arms passed little more than three inches from his right side. He could feel a new draft of air as his borrowed clothes gained two new holes. Naruto landed in a crouch and turned on the balls of his feet to flip backwards and away from the wave of sand that Gaara sent tumbling after him.  
_If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was actually trying to kill me._ Naruto laughed under his breath. He did a quick chakra search of the training grounds. Of course he knew where Gaara was, but he wanted to see how his team was doing.

Karin, Suigetsu, Temari, and Konan were fighting furiously. It was pretty easy to see that Karin and Suigetsu were a good team together, as Temari and Konan were getting worn out quickly. Naruto was pretty sure the two of them-Suigetsu and Karin, that is- had something going on between them. Sure, they fought a lot, but that's what couples did. I mean, look at him and Sasu-. Ok, backing off that topic.

Juugo and Sakura were out of his range, but he was pretty sure they were a little ways east of him. He also felt what seemed to be a familiar chakra a little ways off to the south, probably Kakashi. Hopefully Yamato-sensei and Sai would come with him. They needed all the help they could get when they went after Madara.

Naruto dodged yet another arm of sand that Gaara threw his way. The young Kazekage had apparently outgrown his habit of keeping his arms crossed during a fight. Either that or he was taking the fight with Naruto very seriously. The man was using his sand to the fullest, guiding it with his hands and arms, making its movements even faster and more powerful.

He sent three kunai at Gaara and they were blocked easily by the sand. Naruto backpedaled as three arms of sand tried to maneuver him into a spot where he'd be surrounded. Just as he stepped back, however, the ground rose around him encasing him in a tomb-like cylindrical area.

"Great, Gaara. You just had to go and learn another sand tomb attack…" He muttered. Naruto concentrated his chakra into his right fist. Around it, he shaped his blades of air-

_**Kit, why don't we try something new? I've thought of a good technique and everything. **_ Kyuubi said out of the blue. Naruto jumped at the suddenness of her voice. He'd thought she'd been sleeping until that moment, and Kyuubi apparently knew it. She laughed.

_But I told Gaara I wouldn't use your help._

_**No, you told him you wouldn't use my chakra.**_ She corrected._** Plus, this is especially for breaking a trap. It won't affect him in the least; it'll only get you out of this ill-decorated sand-tomb.**_ She started pouting.

_Fine, Fine. What is it?_

_**Well…**_She started to whisper to him, even though she knew no one could hear her. She was just getting into the fight. It'd been a while since her host had been in a fight for anything but his life. All the better to make the best of it.

…_That's a great idea, Kyuu!_ Naruto eventually said. He'd practiced something like what she was proposing when he'd first gotten a grip on his control of wind chakra. He grinned. It had been rather fun, and, well, destructive.

Naruto let his chakra flow from his body. He reached out to the air around him, willing it to spin itself into sharp blades guided by his chakra, typically creating a huge Rasengan around his body. As he was lifted off the ground by the air pressure, he curled his legs up into his chest so that he could move the air more freely. He moved his arms in circular motions around him to make the air move faster and faster until… There!

Naruto suddenly pushed the air outwards with a strain of his muscles. The hair-thin blades sliced easily through the now hardening sand and he was left to stand in a foot-deep carved-out crater. And there was Gaara, standing a few feet away, looking as astonished as one could possibly expect. After inspecting the ground around him, he saw why. Gaara had been covering the outside of his sand tomb with the same diamond-like substance he had used for his own shield, which would have made it impossible to get out if he wasn't, well, Naruto.

_You were right, Kyuu! It worked even better than we thought! And it didn't take as much chakra as my Rasen Shuriken either. _He grinned.

_**Like I would have been wrong.**_ She said, faking haughtiness.

_Never! _Naruto laughed internally.

Gaara, meanwhile, had uncovered from his stupor and raised his arms to direct his sand at Naruto once again. Naruto was preparing to jump when he felt a brush against his senses.

_No…It can't be…_

Gaara's eyes widened as he realized that Naruto wasn't going to jump out of the way like he'd thought. He pulled back on his sand as hard as he could, the pressure of the many tons pulling heavily at his arms. The sand spikes were a hairs-breadth away from Naruto's face when the blond disappeared, leaving three muttered words for a confused Gaara to decipher:

"It's not possible."

**xXx**

He raced across the training grounds, through trees and opens clearings, branches tearing at his face and arms and legs and clothes, but he didn't care. If that person was really there…

_Please let him be there. Please._

He ran south of the village, where he'd originally thought Kakashi had been coming from. He'd been wrong. He could feel Kakashi's chakra clearly now. The man was now quickly headed Naruto's way, feeling his fluctuating chakra. But the Copy Ninja was not coming from the Southern region of the outskirts of Konoha. He was at the Northern end. This chakra... The very existence of this chakra wasn't possible.

Naruto was at his destination within minutes and was within sight of the person he was looking for. He was there. He was alive. Naruto opened his mouth to speak but he could get any words to form so he closed his mouth and tried again:

"Jiraiya-sensei?"


	15. There's a Third Raven! And a Toad!

**15**

Naruto sat in room 416 of Konoha's new hospital next to the bed in which his sensei lay. The first thing Tsunade had done after the "all clear" was called was gather all the stonemasons and all the ninja who could manipulate earth, along with the architects that were in the village, and have them raise the new hospital. She'd worked them hard and they'd gotten the building raised in record time with little to no breaks in between. The hospital was ready to use, with medicine from Tsunade's own personal stock and supplies from Suna, within a day and a half of the attack. All the injured were moved into rooms that were furnished with wooden beds courtesy of Yamato-sensei.

Even with all the injuries Konoha had suffered, the people were all comfortably housed in the new fifteen-story tall hospital. There were no people left in the halls, and there were actually quite a few empty rooms. There was even an entire floor dedicated solely to the use of hospital staff.

Jiraiya, now one of these said patients, having shown up out of nowhere during Naruto and Gaara's fight, had seen Naruto and promptly passed out. Of course, that had scared the hell out of Naruto and, before Jiraiya had even touched the ground, Naruto had his supposedly deceased sensei in his arms and was half-way to Tsunade.

As luck would have it, Naruto found the somewhat sober hokage on her way into the new hospital. The moment she saw him and his passenger, Tsunade dropped all her papers and the mug of coffee Shizune had just handed her. She'd pulled Jiraiya out of Naruto's arms and rushed off towards what he assumed was an emergency wing with Shizune at her side. Naruto had made to follow her, but had been stopped by Kakashi, who had only just caught up with him, breathless and with a worried look on his face.

As they waited for news from Tsunade, the two of them sat outside the doors of the emergency area. Yamato and Sai had come there as well, as Kakashi had convinced them to come to the training grounds with him. As a group, Gaara, Sakura, and Temari found them about a half an hour later at the hospital. Kakashi informed them of what had happened and they left with Yamato and Sai to tell Suigetsu, Karin, Juugo, and Konan the news and to pass on a message to continue training, as they could do nothing to help the situation. After about another half an hour of waiting, Shizune came out of the double doors with a smile on her face.

All these events led up to now, merely an hour later, where Naruto sat with Kakashi, waiting for Tsunade to come and tell him what was wrong with his sensei. Sure he could read the clipboard that hung on the end of the bed, but he wanted to hear it from Tsunade. From the smile Shizune had worn-right before she'd been rushed back into the emergency wing to help deal with a villager that had nearly been crushed to death when searching his home to see if he could save anything - Jiraiya was alright, but Naruto wanted to know why his sensei was still unconscious.

Just at the moment Naruto was about to go and look for her, Tsunade walked through the door, looking pale and tired. She raised a hand, forestalling Naruto's questions, and walked up to the other side of Jiraiya's bed.

"He still has injuries from what I would guess to be from his fight with Pein, but they've been treated. He passed out from exhaustion." She told both the quiet Naruto and Kakashi, who was leaning against the wall close to the door.

"If he was treated by someone else, then why would they let him leave before he was well again?"

"How did you know he didn't treat himself?" Tsunade questioned.

"I saw the bandages." He shrugged. "There was something about them that was different from the way he bandaged himself; they were tighter, maybe. He didn't know that I knew that it was me who hurt him back when we were on that training trip. After that one time we were training, I saw him wearing some bandages around his chest. I saw how he moved with me, cautiously, like the older people in the village do. I asked the Kyuubi, and she finally told me that I'd gotten mad during a training session and…snapped."

"It wasn't your fault." The three occupants of Jiraiya's room jumped at said patient's tired and gravelly voice, having not noticed his awakening. "I was goading you because I knew your abilities usually rode on your emotions. It would've happened eventually and, frankly, I'm proud that you've managed to reign in your emotions around these lunk-headed idiots of Konoha for so long, with how they've treated you."

Naruto met Jiraiya's eyes and nodded his appreciation at the statement.

"While I'm sure that we all agree with you on that, Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi said, pushing off the wall and walking to the end of the bed, "I'm sure that we would all also like to know how you managed to avoid certain death." He performed a jutsu so quickly that Naruto could barely make out the signs for it. A silencing jutsu. "The story of which I'm sure is not for prying ears."

Jiraiya sighed and nodded. "You're right in that, but I'm not entirely sure how I did it either. Let me ask a question of my own first: Did you get my message?"

Tsunade's face grew grim and she nodded. "Yes, we got it, and it helped quite a bit, but…" She told of what had happened to the village and how Naruto had dealt with Pein, and a simplified version of what had happened with Madara.

"I see. I wish it could have happened differently, but we're lucky so few died." Jiraiya looked down at his hands which were clenched in his lap. During Tsunade's telling of the story, he'd moved himself into an upright position, sitting against the wall that his bed was pushed against.

Naruto frowned. "It's not your fault, sensei. The only reason I beat Pein was because I had the Kyuubi. Not to mention, you didn't know what his abilities were and I did. You only did what could have been done according to the situation."

Jiraiya looked suspiciously at Naruto and studied his students face for a minute; Naruto stared back. Jiraiya sighed again.

"A lot happened while I was gone, didn't it?"

The blond nodded. A moment later, Jiraiya could have sworn Naruto tensed and his eyes widened, but the expression passed so quickly that the Sannin figured he was just imagining things. Tsunade and Kakashi watched the interaction quietly, noticing that some of the tension in Naruto's shoulders held had lessened, happy to see it, sad that they had to interrupt it.

"What happened on your end, Jiraiya? We got your message and assumed the worst and apparently, Pein thought he'd killed you, too." Tsunade asked gently.

"Hell, even _I_ thought he'd killed me." The Sannin scratched at his long, platinum blond, spiky hair. "The last thing I remember before waking up in that room was sinking to the bottom of a very deep pool of water. Next thing I know, I'm in what looks like a safe-house, all bandaged up, and wearing new, dry clothes with the Uchiha crest on them. Of course, the least of all the surprises," He said sarcastically. "Was seeing Itachi Uchiha sitting at my bedside with a pair of glasses on, quietly reading one of my books. That was quite amusing after I got over the shock of it." Jiraiya smirked at the memory.

Naruto, Kakashi, and Tsunade all looked thunderstruck at the news, but, after a second, Naruto registered the last bit of information Jiraiya had given them. He burst out laughing and grinned with his sensei.

"Ha-ha…Wh-which book was it?" Naruto said between laughs.

"Actually, it was the most recent one. Itachi even asked me to sign it after I calmed down. I almost reopened my injuries when I saw him, I jerked up so fast.

Tsunade growled in irritation and hit Jiraiya on the head lightly. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Now. Besides the fact that, according to Sasuke, Itachi is dead, why would Itachi help you? Have all the Uchiha's just suddenly started changing their minds about their life paths or something?!"

"Well, according to Itachi's explanation, he only infiltrated Akatsuki as a spy. I tend to believe him, as he went against Pein's intentions and saved my life."

"Why isn't he with you now?" Naruto, whom Jiraiya noticed was taking everything in splendidly, asked. He seemed to have an air about him that already had everything figured out, but that he was just asking for the sake of the other two in the room. The blond walked over to the window after standing from his seat by the bed.

"Because I didn't know he'd planned on leaving." A new voice entered the room from the window behind Naruto. Instantly, two kunai and four shuriken were thrown at Itachi by Tsunade and Kakashi; reacting to their reflexes against unwanted intruders.

Naruto merely stepped in front of the projectiles and caught all four shuriken easily, knocking aside the two kunai, which embedded themselves in the wooden floor. He turned and greeted the raven that now leaned against the window seal.

"Hey, 'tachi-san." He said with a smile. Itachi stared at him with that trademark Uchiha stare, although Naruto saw traces of a smirk playing at the edges of the man's lips. There was a little surprise there too, if Naruto was right.

"You didn't have to catch those, Naruto-kun." Itachi said.

"And let you cut your manicured hands 'cause you can't see the things?! I would never!" Naruto grinned. Itachi deadpanned him. "All right, all right. So you're not completely blind. Close enough. Can't a guy be nice anymore?"

Naruto chuckled as he turned away from the glare of an incensed Uchiha, facing the looks of astonishment behind him.

"What?" He asked innocently, clearly enjoying the agonizing confusion he was creating.


	16. And How Did You Know This?

**16**

"When-?"

"What the-?"

"How-?"

Questions shot from the mouths of Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Tsunade so fast that they stopped suddenly and looked at each other. Tsunade sighed, seeing that Kakashi was just as completely confused as she was. She noted that Jiraiya wore a somewhat irritated look. But, glancing over to the last two occupants of the room, her irritation quickly outshone her confusion. Naruto and Itachi were both wearing identical expressions of knowing amusement, even if Itachi looked slightly annoyed with Naruto's words from not seconds before. She itched to draw another, preferably larger, more destructive weapon and throw it at both of them.

_Damn these brats and their egos. They're gonna kill me._

"Explain." She ordered imperiously, staring down the two said brats. Naruto's grin grew wider, and he backed up to lean against the wall next to Itachi. He glanced up at Itachi and the raven gave him look that said "You_ explain it to them." _Naruto heaved a breath theatrically and started to speak.

"Well, I can explain what I know of the situation. Or, at least, what I've guessed. Itachi was… uh, well… _involved…_ in the Uchiha Massacre under orders of the higher ups of Konoha-"

"The village elders, Danzou, and Madara, specifically, although Madara was the main orchestrator of the entire mess." Itachi interrupted. Naruto glanced at him with a triumphant look at getting the perfectionist Uchiha to talk. Itachi pointedly ignored him, so he picked up where he left off.

"Right, Madara. After that, he left the village and, according to what I've pieced together, he joined Akatsuki as a spy after that. When he fought with Sasuke- or was that a clone or something?" Itachi nodded.

"It was a clone of my own making, which could use all my abilities, even the Sharingan." Naruto looked curious about the technique, but continued telling his theory.

"Anyways, when he fought with Sasuke, right before the clone actually died, Itachi passed on his Mangekyou to Sasuke. He was already nearly blind from using it, anyway, though. Am I right, 'tachi-san?"

Itachi nodded his head, only slightly. "Yes." He took a breath, and Tsunade could tell that Itachi planned to tell the story from there, though she could tell that he didn't really want to brief them on something he had kept secret for so long. "To explain what happened when I found Jiraiya," He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I was tracking Pein and Konan in hopes that I could follow them to Madara; I'm not so unlike Sasuke that I didn't want my own revenge. When I found out that the two of them were in contact with him, I took advantage of my position. When they reached their hideout, they apparently found Jiraiya-sama sneaking around and started fighting. I hung back to see what types of abilities Pein had- as he'd kept them secret from all the Akatsuki besides Konan- until I saw Pein leaving Jiraiya sinking into the water.

"There's no particular reason why I pulled Jiraiya out, except that I felt it would allow me to gain back some of Konoha's trust and allow me to save my little brother in doing so. The rest of the story is as you see. I took Jiraiya back to one of the Uchiha safe houses. He was in a self-induced coma until just two weeks ago. He woke briefly for a few days at a time after that and he eventually snuck away after he woke up when I went to get supplies.

Tsunade looked to Jiraiya and he nodded, confirming what he could of Itachi's explanation, then the man opened his mouth to speak:

"Naruto, how did you know what happened between Itachi and Sasuke? And when did you sense Itachi coming into the village a little while ago? You moved to in front of the window because you knew he was coming, didn't you?" The white-haired Sannin asked. He hadn't noticed Itachi's chakra until the Uchiha had come into the room, which was reasonable, considering he was still recovering his energy and because Itachi had obviously been concealing his chakras well. But, the point was, neither Tsunade nor Kakashi had sensed the man either; it was only Naruto who'd known the man was coming. This led to another point. How had Naruto known that Itachi was trustworthy enough to let the man sneak through Konoha and into its hospital without saying anything about it?

"Well, about the part between Sasuke and Itachi…I guessed." Seeing the skeptical look on his sensei's face, Naruto elaborated. "When me and Sasuke fought Madara, he said some stuff about Itachi and his fight with Sasuke along with a few other small details. I just pieced it all together with stuff I already knew. As for the other question, I noticed Itachi coming into the village right before you started explaining what happened with you and Pein."

"He mastered the Sage training, Jiraiya. Right after we heard that you'd been killed he left to train." Tsunade told Jiraiya. The man turned a purely shocked look on the blond, then shook his head softly and his expression turned into a proud smile.

"You really mastered it, Naruto?" Naruto grinned and put his hand to the back of his head.

"Uh, yeah, it was really hard though."

"Better have been! That damn training took me years! I only 'died' six months ago! How the hell did you do it so fast?"

"He used my clone training method. It always did work best for him..." Kakashi said, with a bit of pride showing in his voice. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Kakashi all broke down and started talking about all that had happened during Jiraiya's absence. Naruto smiled at them, his precious people, before turning to Itachi. The man was kneading his left temple as if he had a headache.

"Is it bad?"

"My body's just adjusting to the absence of the Sharingan. Withdrawals, of a sort."

"You really don't have it at all anymore?"

Itachi shook his head. "No, I don't. Strangely, I still remember all the techniques I learned with it, but I no longer have any form of the Uchiha bloodline limit, aside from the ability to anticipate attacks. I assume that it was ingrained into my instincts."

"You can barely see, though, right? Are you going to be able to rejoin the ninja ranks when Granny Tsunade pardons you?"

Itachi raised an elegant eyebrow. Naruto briefly wondered if that trademark Uchiha expression was genetic or not, because all the Uchiha he'd seen could do it. "When? Not 'if'? You believe that she will pardon _me_? For all I've done?"

"Of course. She can see the reasoning just the same as I can. Whatever you say, you were tricked into doing the council's bidding. The worst sentence any reasonable person will give you, with all the evidence we have in your favor, is house arrest for the rest of your life. You've been around those ruthless Akatsuki too long if you think otherwise."

Itachi looked at him in a calculating manner, as if judging him. Personally, Naruto felt he was being looked at in that way far too often lately. He didn't like it, but he didn't say anything either.

"You're different from when we met in that forest."

"No. Everyone else is just seeing me differently. I am the same."

"So it was a mask." He didn't ask. The Uchiha, far too much of a genius for his own good, had probably guessed that he was more than what he appeared from the first time they met. While Naruto himself had kept on believing the man had betrayed his entire family and not felt a thing about it.

"I'm… sorry, Itachi. I-"

"No. I played my part out. I meant to make everyone believe I did all that for my own gains. I needed Sasuke to hate me. I wouldn't have been able to leave otherwise." He smiled bitterly, just the barest uplifting of the corners of his lips, but it was there. "Will you help Sasuke understand it? Why I did what I did? When you bring him back? I understand if he hates me, so long as he knows why. I told him myself, through the clone, but from my own lips it might not be enough."

"It was enough. I don't think he knows it himself, but he's already long since forgiven you. He just had nothing else to live for without the feelings of hate and revenge he'd been living on before. Of course, you returning from the dead might help, too."

Itachi didn't say anything, but he had a relieved look in his eyes.

"Now. I've got a favor to ask, 'tachi-san." Naruto grinned at the man who raised an eyebrow at him. "I need your help with something."


	17. The Escape of a Feather

**17**

Sasuke jerked from the wall he was leaning against when he heard the soft creak of the door opening. His back protested painfully against the quick movement. He hissed under his breath as his stiff limbs stretched for the first time in what seemed to be ages, but he knew it had only been hours since they'd last paid him a visit. Since _he'd_ last paid him a visit.

His bones ached.

Once he recognized the figure in the door- or rather, made sure that the figure wasn't Orochimaru or Madara-, he relaxed a little, letting his arms release some of their tension and sag in the chakra restraints that chained him to the wall behind him. The manacles held his arms far enough above his head that, if he tried to sit or stand, his arms would be pulled from their sockets by his own body. It was a torture tactic; never let your prisoner have the comfort of sleep. Sasuke had long ago figured a way around it, though. When he wanted to sleep or relax, he'd just kneel without resting his behind on his feet and keep all his weight on his knees. It wasn't very comfortable, but it was better than crouching all the time. He was sure that his captors knew he could do this, but knowing he could, and seeing him do it were completely different things. They'd rather have him live in fear of the punishment they'd give him if they caught him doing it.

Every time someone opened the door, he had to go back to his original crouching position for fear of both punishment and of his chains being repositioned into an even more restless position. Thankfully, he was crouching now, and he'd seen Orochimaru specifically tell his guards that no one who entered his cell besides Madara and himself was allowed to harm him. This person wasn't Orochimaru or Madara, though, thank Kami-sama.

"Sasuke…"

The dark haired prisoner blinked at the soft voice of his intruder and at the comfortable use of his first name. It was a man, he determined from the voice, which was one he recognized but couldn't quite place. The man was in a shadow and Sasuke couldn't see anything of him but the normal Ninja gear that everyone in this region, assumedly the Rice country, wore.

Also of note, why was he whispering? If he was one of Orochimaru's or Madara's men-? Then he saw it. As the man quickly shut the door, Sasuke caught sight of a still foot pointing towards the roof of the cavern. A pool of dark liquid was spreading slowly and was reflected the light of a torch not far from the doorway as a garnet glint…

Disregarding his current state of weariness and pained body, Sasuke smoothly rose a little more into a defensive crouch, readying himself for a fight in which he was severely handicapped. Surely there were people under _their_ command that hated him enough to disobey direct orders and try to kill him. But, no. That didn't explain the familiarity the stranger said his name with.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Sasuke. Calm down! We need to get away from here quickly!" The figure hissed at him urgently.

Sasuke's mind rushed through all the ploys this could be. Making him think he would soon be free only to be delivered in to _their _waiting hands once again. His heart was jumping at the thought of a chance at freedom once again, though. A few more days here would be enough time to make him wish he was dead. Was it worth it? To risk his confidence that he would escape and be free again?

Sasuke nodded minutely in the dark that had been his constant companion for the time he'd been locked away for _misbehavior_. It was definitely worth it.

The figure was already working at the manacles on his wrists, pulling a glass bottle from a pocket. Sasuke couldn't see what the man was doing behind his back, but he heard the sound of sizzling metal and, when he pulled against the chakra repressors at the man's suggestion (he refused to take another order from anyone), they broke with a little strain. He rubbed his wrists and almost sighed in pleasure at the feeling of warmth his returning chakra provided him with.

"Who-?"

"No time. You'll see when we get into some light. Come on. They'll send someone after us soon."

"Right." Sasuke could see the sense in that. He followed the stranger to the door and, after he checked the way to make sure it was clear, he immediately turned to the right, stepping over two corpses and steadying Sasuke as he got used to walking again. When Sasuke finally saw the man's face as they passed under a torch, Sasuke looked as if he would choke on his own tongue.

"But- …You-…You were dead." He mumbled, still walking after the man. He congratulated himself that he did not react like Naruto would have; stopping in the middle of his soon-to-be-ex-prison and starting an argument with the man that he supposedly killed not too long ago.

Deidara shot a grin back at him. "I'm too good to stay dead."

Sasuke blinked. "You will explain when we are far away from here." He stated flatly.

Sasuke heard the blond chuckle. "Of course, Uchiha-sama. What else may I do for you today?" he said in a mocking tone.

"You can get me out of this hell-hole to start with."

He sensed the atmosphere become more serious with his comment and Deidara picked up his pace, Sasuke following along at the same speed without complaint. He didn't know his way around this particular hideout of Orochimaru's, but apparently Deidara did.

Surprisingly, the two didn't pass any guards on their way to escape. Deidara whispered to Sasuke that there was an important meeting and that all of Otogakure was to attend. The two that had been guarding Sasuke were not required to attend and there were only a few others that were given the same luxury.

Sasuke was lucky that he was not too far into his captivity and he could still move his body without bouts of exhaustion from lack of food or water. He had no problem keeping up with Deidara when they started running through corridors, especially when his body was nice enough to provide what seemed like an endless supply of adrenaline to his muscles.

"We'll be exiting on the far side of the village, but there are still scouts on duty, and we don't want reinforcements to come and help them while we're leaving. Keep your chakra activity low and only attack when I say. Otherwise, I'll take care of any witnesses we come across. Your chakra levels are dangerously low, so I'm actually amazed you have the energy to run; I thought I'd have to carry you out of here."

Sasuke grunted and followed Deidara up an old, and rickety-looking, steel ladder. He saw the blond push up on what looked like a wooden trap door. Sasuke assumed it was an old escape route for the hideout. It was ironic, Sasuke thought, but at least they were putting it to its intended use. A quiet chuckle on Deidara's part suggested he was thinking along the same lines. The two of them stepped out quickly and silently into a very small clearing that was surrounded by dense forage. They spent the next two or three minutes working as quietly as they could to clear a path through it. Once, Deidara paused in his work to hand Sasuke a small, round pill. The raven swallowed it immediately, recognizing it as a military rations pill and, not a minute later, they broke through the low hanging trees and wild bushes.

Sasuke stepped, for the first time in days, into the sunlight. It was beginning to hang low in the sky, suggesting it would not be long till sunset. But, at this point, he didn't really care about the sunlight that was shining down in specks that spotted his entire body. Only a few miles. He knew Orochimaru's hideouts always bordered another country, just for easy access. Only a few miles, and they'd be in a significantly safer place.

"It's clear. Let's go." Deidara said, standing close behind him, surveying the surrounding area for enemies.

They took off at a sprint. If anyone got in their way, Sasuke was sure they would be lying on the ground, dead, before they knew what hit them. He'd make sure of it himself if he had to. Anyone who worked for Orochimaru and Madara would be the first to feel his wrath once he regained any and all of the strength he'd lost in captivity.

This he thought as they passed into the borders of Leaf Country without having to so much as lift a finger. It was too easy. Something like this might be able to fool Orochimaru, but certainly not Madara. What was he missing?

"I know what you're thinking. 'It was too easy', right?" Sasuke blinked at the man as they stopped to rest for a moment. "I was thinking the same thing. There should have been guards posted at the border we just passed, even if there was a meeting. I think something big is happening. I don't know why you were brought in there, but I figured 'tachi wouldn't want you in there so I had to get you out.

"When Tobi announced that he was the real head of Akatsuki, and that the snake bastard was part of the organization again, I almost pissed myself. Who would've guessed that Tobi was really Madara? Well, other than 'tachi, of course. I think this has to do with the war. There've been quite a few minor rebels groups joining both sides lately; Leaf and Akatsuki, I mean."

Deidara finally took a breath. It took Sasuke a moment to sort through the subject changes. He'd flinched when the man had mentioned this Tachi person, the name being too close to his brother's for comfort, but he'd convinced himself that he was mistaken. But, for some reason, other than the fact that the man had just rescued him from near certain death, Sasuke trusted him.

"Why-?"

Deidara raised a hand and interrupted him. "I know, I know. 'Why did I rescue you?' right?" Sasuke glared at the man. Deidara just grinned infuriatingly. "I'll tell you later." Sasuke's glare would've burned through him if Deidara hadn't stiffened and stood quickly. Sasuke was immediately on guard.

"I think your captors have just figured out you've disappeared." When Sasuke sent him a questioning glance, the blond tapped his temple. "Madara marks his followers with a seal. He can summon us with it. He is so pissed right now, it's funny."

Well, Madara has nothing to do with this. And Orochimaru certainly has no reason to pull a plot like this. So, maybe it's for real? Sasuke grinned at the idea.

"We'd better give him reason to keep him pissed, then. Why don't we go now?"

"I like the way you think, Sasu-kun. " Sasuke ignored the nickname.

"I thought perhaps you still had a grudge about me trying to kill you."

"Oh, no. I started that one. Any fight I start, I don't hold a grudge for. On the other hand, if I'm forced into one, like the one a certain black-haired bastard genius beat me in, I demand retribution."

"Are you talking about my brother?"

"One and the same."

"Sorry to tell you, but he's dead. I killed him."

"Huh? What are you talking about? I just talked to him three days ago. Haven't you been in that cell for four?" Deidara questioned Sasuke offhandedly, not noticing the look on Sasuke's face.

"WHAT?"


	18. Distrust

**18**

"HE'S ESCAPED!"

Naruto ran from the guest hall into the kitchen, barely stopping himself from barreling into Konan, who was setting the table for an early breakfast.

Karin, Juugo, and Suigetsu were sitting in their claimed seats with their heads on their arms, dozing off. Suigetsu could even be heard snoring. It was three hours before dawn, so the three couldn't really be blamed for being tired, but the moment Naruto entered the room, Sasuke's team jerked awake. Karin shrieked and Suigetsu, sitting next to her, fell backwards in his chair. Juugo just yawned widely. Konan chuckled quietly, but her expression morphed into a curious gaze as she saw the breathless, excited, confused, and, at the same time, completely serious face of Naruto.

Naruto sat heavily in his designated chair at the end of the table.

"Naruto? Are you alright?" Juugo, the next to notice the blond's expression, asked tentatively.

Naruto shook his head.

"What happened?" Suigetsu preempted everyone by asking the obvious question. Naruto shook his head again.

"I woke up to a strange sound this morning and it turned out to be a messenger hawk pecking at my window. Its harness had an Uchiha symbol on it, so…"

"He came to me to see if I'd sent it." Itachi entered the kitchen and sat at the opposite end of the table as Naruto, next to Konan and a seat away from Juugo. "Obviously I didn't, seeing as I would have just walked the few steps separating our rooms to talk to him. The message is from my little brother."

At this, the three members of Sasuke's team jumped to their feet, causing their chairs to crash to the ground. A pity, since Suigetsu had only just sat down again.

Naruto held up a hand to silence Sasuke's team before they started yelling stupid questions and gave him a bigger headache than the one that already pulsed behind his eyes. Konan pressed something into his hand before moving to sit in her seat, the one between Itachi and Juugo, pulling Juugo down with her. He opened his hand to see a small pill. He recognized it as a medicine for headaches. He smiled at her gratefully and swallowed it down with a glass of water that was already in front of his seat. He settled himself back and prepared to speak.

"Like I said: He's escaped. It's real. Sasuke wrote it. I know his handwriting and Itachi recognized the seal around it as one that he and Sasuke made when they were younger. No one else knows how to make them. But that could be a problem." He rubbed his temples, trying to work the headache away faster.

"How could that possibly be a problem?" Karin asked excitedly, grabbing at the letter. Naruto kept a tight grip on it. And she sat back with a confused look on her face. "If he wrote it, he must be safe!"

Itachi answered for Naruto. "Just because he wrote it doesn't mean he isn't still in captivity. Madara could have forced him to write it in order to lure Naruto out."

"But in that case, Sasuke didn't need to use that special seal. It could even be a warning to us. And the other thing that doesn't add up with that is that Madara doesn't need to lure me out. He knows I'll come after Sasuke. He even went as far as to tell me to train then come after him. He knows I'd go after him as soon as I could. And Sasuke only addressed me in the letter, no one else. Which is what makes me think it could be a trap to make me go find him by myself, and…it…just seems too good to be true." Only after expressing these worries did Naruto hand over the letter. Konan got to it first and read it aloud.

_Naruto,_

_I've escaped from Madara. A traitor Akatsuki member helped. I'm travelling to the land of waves right now to send them off our trail. Meet me at our old temporary training grounds. We won't contact the Bridge builder. I don't want him to become a target. We'll be moving on in a week if you don't find us._

_ -Sasuke_

There was silence for a moment, and then Naruto spoke again.

"Another problem is that only five people know of those training grounds: Me, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei, and…well, Haku _knew _about them. And that's what makes me believe it's not a trap; Madara couldn't make Sasuke write about something that he, Madara, doesn't even know about. But then again, Madara could have gotten the information with his Sharingan. I don't know. I'm probably just being paranoid." Naruto finished with a sigh.

"No." Itachi said. "This is Madara we're talking about. He could have gotten into Sasuke's mind. You're right to think this through, but I think this letter is exactly what Sasuke would write. If he was being forced to write something, he would put a trick in, something to warn us, perhaps a badly written word or sentence." Naruto smirked, knowing that Sasuke would never _ever_ do anything less than perfect unless it was absolutely necessary. There was a reason for the raven's arrogance after all.

"And if we agree that it's not a fake…then I think I know who the traitor Akatsuki member is, too. And we can trust him." Itachi added slowly. After a second of studying the man, Naruto decided that the new information had convinced him. He nodded slowly and surveyed the others' thoughts. They, one by one, slowly agreed with Itachi's reasoning.

"Plus, it's only been five days. Sasuke wouldn't give in in such a short amount of time. It would take months, maybe even years." Suigetsu added.

Naruto grinned at that. "You know him well."

"You should go speak with Tsunade, Naruto. Tell her that we're leaving at noon. I'm right in assuming none of you want to wait much longer than that to go to find Sasuke, right?" Konan's suggestion and question were greeted by affirmations all around the table.

xXx

Two days after escaping from Orochimaru and travelling east, a day after sending his message to Naruto, and six days since his capture, Sasuke and Deidara stepped onto the Great Naruto Bridge. Merchants could be seen and heard, the wheels of their carts crunching over small rocks and sand that had migrated its way across and over the bridge by way of the shoes of travelers. The Land of Waves seemed to be very prosperous now and it showed its wealth in the glow of happiness surrounding the natives around them.

Sasuke hoped that Tsunade had treated his team well, although he supposed they'd been imprisoned by the fact that Orochimaru hadn't come in bragging about a failed rescue mission, and Deidara had told him that there'd been no reports of any Leaf ninja at the border, which were normally broadcasted quite loudly. Whether he liked it or not, his hot-headed team would have come after him without fail unless they were taken into custody. He was thankful for that. He may not usually seem like he would, but he would protect his team at all costs, as they would do for him. They would have died if they'd come after him. He would have gone straight back to Konoha to retrieve his team if not for the fact that Madara was probably on his tail by now. He refused to lead the bastard back to his old home.

He was glad for his escape, though a part of him still thought it had been too easy. It had him on edge, tensing at every unexpected sound. Deidara was another unknown factor. The blond refused to tell him more about Itachi, which not only pissed him off, but kept him from trusting the man completely. If he was an ally, why would he keep information from him? Every so often, the man would send small, worried look his way, and it really bugged him.

The only good in the situation at this particular moment was that he'd been able to get a message out to Naruto without Deidara knowing. Even if the hawk he sent the letter with was intercepted, there were only two people in the world who could read it; Naruto, who the message was meant for (although the blond would have to run some chakra through it, which would likely take him some time to figure out), and his brother, Itachi, who Deidara suggested was alive and well, and who had helped him create the seal (a method of disguising the words so only the intended receivers could read them without breaking the seal) when they were younger, and who could probably break the seal with his eyes closed.

"What are you thinking about, Sasu-kun?" Came the slightly crazed voice he'd come to recognize as Deidara's.

"What do _you_ think?" Sasuke snapped. "And don't call me that!"

"Geez… you don't have to be so snippy, Sasu-kun." Sasuke growled and increased his pace. He was glad to have been taken out of Orochimaru's and Madara's prison, but the questions, and company, that freedom brought, were unwelcome.

Deidara took the hint, but the quiet only lasted until they reached the other side of the bridge. Passing the sign, Sasuke just ignored it, but Deidara grabbed his shirt sleeve and dragged them to a halt. When Sasuke spun around and glared, Deidara pointed at the large sign on the side of the bridge.

"Is this about your old team? Last time I was up this way I saw the sign, but I didn't really register it until you said you were leading us to a safe place in the Wave country."

Sasuke was still seething over the fact that Deidara had seen fit to stop him over a sign, but as he read the said object, his anger ebbed and turned into dull surprise. He had known that Tazuna had seen fit to name the bridge after Naruto, but he hadn't known it had been turned into a historical landmark. The sign described Team Kakashi's efforts for the bridge and village in full and even went so far as to honor Haku and Zabuza as well for ridding them of Gato. It didn't give the actual name of anyone who had still been living at the time the sign had been made, of course, as that could make them targets for anyone who wanted to be known as the killers of the saviors of the Wave country, but for a person who had been there, it was quite easy to understand the subjects of the words. He ran a hand over the raised letters of the sign almost reverently, losing himself in thoughts over the events of the mission…

Suddenly, Deidara grabbed Sasuke's arm. He rushed to hide them in the shadow of one of the larger merchant carts, in and among the oxen, horses and wagoners. One of the two guards gave them a withering look, warning them not to go any closer to the wares-as if he could stop them if they really wanted to rob the wagon- and they ignored him.

"Who is it?" Sasuke hissed as they both concealed their chakras and scanned the area. He wasn't a fool; Deidara wouldn't have done that unless he sensed danger. Or saw it. They continued to walk in the shadow of the cart, much to the displeasure of the guards, while Sasuke waited for an answer. By the time he finally got one, though, they were already deep into the quickly growing city on the other side of the bridge.

"Kisame." That was the only thing Sasuke needed to hear.

"Fuck! They already know I'm here?!" The two of them pulled away from the cart and ducked into a narrow and dark back-road. Sasuke started to pace until Deidara laid a hand on his shoulder.

"No. That's not it. He probably doesn't even know that you're missing. He told me, a day before I got you out of your little prison, that he was going to visit a friend in the Wave country. When I asked who, he said that the man used to be a part of the Seven Swordsmen…"

"Zabuza Momochi…" Sasuke guessed.

"I think so, but he never said the name. Probably didn't want to be seen as sentimental." Deidara said offhandedly. "But, either way, if he'd seen you, we'd have been in trouble. He's stronger than me, and in your condition, you couldn't take him either." Sasuke glared at him.

"What? It's true." Deidara whined.

The blonde was right, even though he was loathe to admit it. Sasuke wasn't in any condition to fight and Deidara could only do so much with a med kit. Sasuke was malnourished, having not eaten at all in his time at Madara's hideout, from either being denied food and from him refusing it. He had only just regained his normal amount of chakra but his chakra system was in no condition to use it, having been blocked by the chakra repressors. Not to mention, he'd developed insomnia during his short stay in the small prison with - he shivered - Orochimaru. So, he wasn't in the best of moods, either.

"Where are we going now? It should be safe to move around; I saw Kisame as he was starting to walk across the bridge to leave the village." Deidara asked him in a rather serious tone. Sasuke thought for a moment. If Deidara was doing this on Madara's orders…He stared the blond down. He figured he could take him in a fight. Regardless of his condition, he'd gotten stronger since they'd fought.

If the man decided to alert Madara of their position, they would have both him and Naruto in their grasps. But, from the way the man spoke about Madara, when he did speak about him, he conveyed his hate for the man easily enough. Sasuke figured he'd just deal with that problem when they came to it. He needed to make sure Naruto was okay, and to apologize to him, something he hadn't been able to do before Madara had so rudely interrupted. He'd watch Deidara carefully until then.


	19. Betrayal

**19**

Tsunade had been bombarded with paperwork the moment she returned to her office from the hospital, and she'd been reading and signing them for hours. She was tired, but she was happy with how everything had turned out. Naruto was safe and Jiraiya had practically come back from the dead. Most of her ninja actually _had_ come back from the dead. Her village was well on its way to being rebuilt and being even more magnificent than before, especially with the helpful artisans Gaara had sent for the same day he'd arrived in Konoha.

The only things that put a dent in her good mood were the deaths of the regular villagers and Sasuke's abduction.

A mass funeral had been performed early the previous morning, which she had presided over. She was sad to see the loss of so many good people that she had seen and talked to most every day. She wondered how anyone could truly want to be Hokage with all the responsibility it gave. Then she wondered if Naruto, the little twerp, knew what he would be getting himself if he still planned to take the job.

And the other thing, Sasuke's abduction… She didn't feel too much in particular about it herself. She'd never known the boy. But she was very thankful to him for trying to protect Naruto, even though he'd hurt the blond plenty all by himself. And she knew Naruto must have been beside himself with worry, even if he didn't show it. That was the main reason she was supporting the mission that Naruto and the rest of his new allies had planned. The other reason, the one she would present to the council if they ever got word of the mission, was that they would get revenge for the village by killing Madara. The council would have a fit.

Signing what must have been the two hundredth paper, Tsunade threw her pen across the room in a sudden fit of anger. Why did she even have to come up with a cover story for something that should be done for its own sake? The council was just made up of a group of old bats that needed to find a cave to hide in, or die in.

But Danzou…him she worried about.

He had more influence than she did on the council. She could even say that he controlled it. And with his secret ANBU Root group…well, he could overturn just about any mission that she assigned if he found out about it. Just by saying that his ninja were better suited for it. And she didn't have enough power to get rid of those ninja simply because of the fact that they provided results.

She pushed her chair away from her desk and stood up abruptly. She opened one of the bottom drawers in the desk and pulled a miniature bottle of sake from it, something that she'd managed to hide from Shizune for a while. She tipped it down quickly enough and laid down on one of her couches, crossing her legs at the ankles.

She closed her eyes and slowed her breathing, trying to calm down enough to take a quick nap before she got back to work.

**xXx**

When she next opened her eyes, Tsunade's senses were on high alert. She didn't open her eyes, but she extended her senses to examine her surroundings. Her ears strained to hear any suspicious noise, but she couldn't hear anything. But, then again, that didn't mean anything. She lived in a world of ninja, after all. She could practically _feel_ another presence in the room with her. The feeling of danger was palpable.

"Tsunade. I thought I'd pay you a visit to see how you were. I was beginning to think you were overtaxing yourself, planning such an _important mission._"

Her heart sank. Nothing good would come from this particular visit.

Nothing at all.

**xXx**

Naruto could have walked down the streets whistling in happiness had it not been for the still-sober setting in the village. It was still early- the sun was only beginning to peek up from behind the trees- but he expected Tsunade would already be awake and hard at work. On his way to see her, he could barely contain his excitement. And he felt so full of energy that he could run all the way to meet Sasuke at their old training ground without a single stop.

He was happy to know that all their planning was to go down the drain. There would be no need to risk the lives of good ninja now. He swore to himself that, if the letter was proven for sure not to be a trap, he would personally thank the ninja that had gotten Sasuke away from the clutches of Madara. As glad as he was now, though, he thought he might actually hug him, too.

He lost track of time as he thought of what he would say to Sasuke when he met him again, and before he knew it, Naruto stood at the double doors that lead to the Hokage's office. His hand poised to knock, he suddenly heard raised voices coming from behind them. He sighed, not recognizing the voices at first. He'd only wanted to come tell Granny Tsunade that they'd be leaving to meet Sasuke soon and then head off to make preparations to leave. He was sure she'd be glad to hear that their elaborate mission plan was completely unnecessary, but for now he'd have to wait until she was done with her meeting.

He reminded himself that he'd have to go talk to Kakashi and Jiraiya after talking to her and his mood sunk at having to delay his departure for even a minute longer.

He settled in to lean against the wall next to the doors of the hokage's office, scowling before closing his eyes and focusing his attention on the voices inside the room. He figured, if they wanted to raise their voices, they could provide entertainment for his wait. He couldn't tell exactly what the people in the room were saying, even though he knew their voices were raised, but then, he had a solution for that.

True to what he had told everyone earlier, when Kyuubi had merged their chakra systems together, his senses had improved. Not in the sense that anything was stronger, no, it wasn't that simple. Rather, he could tell exactly what ingredients had been used to make a certain meal, or differentiate specific smells from one another easily. He'd practically been turned into a human tracker dog.

But hearing…well, that was the most improved.

If he focused, which was what he was doing now, he could ignore all the soft, continuous background noises that were always present around a person and focus in on a specific area to listen in on. It didn't make what he was listening to any louder, but it clarified the sound, bringing it into focus. If he had any say in it, this was definitely the most useful ability to have if you were a ninja, not to mention fun. Oh, the things he could listen in on. Naruto could see all the havoc he could cause now and it made him grin.

As the voices in the room became less muffled, though, Naruto's grin dropped from his face. There was no one in the hall with him, which was probably good, considering what he was suddenly hearing from the mouths of three of the most important parental figures in his life.

He could now identify who the voices belonged to. One, of course, belonged to Tsunade. The other two people, however, surprised him. They belonged to the very two people he'd meant to find after speaking to Tsunade; Kakashi and Jiraiya. Considering the fact that _Kakashi_ of all people had his voice raised, it must be a very important argument.

He was tempted to check the room over with his chakra sensing abilities, but he remembered reading in a book once that the Hokage's office was invulnerable to any reconnaissance abilities. And any attempt would be picked up and would set off alarms. He certainly didn't want that. Though it would be helpful to know if any other people were in the room.

Finally, seconds after he identified the voices, they came into clear focus and he could make out what they were saying.

"-Tsunade? You know how Orochimaru was! And you can't blame him for wanting revenge. Orochimaru was offering to grant his life's goal! To make him stronger! That's every ninja's goal!" Jiraiya shouted. Naruto stopped breathing for a moment. They were speaking about Sasuke. There wasn't anyone else they could be talking about.

"I realize that, Jiraiya, but you know the laws. I can't let the brat off easy. The best thing I can do is to give him the death sentence. That would be better than life in prison, and you know it! Those are the only options, unless he plans to run all his life."

"That would certainly be better than returning here!" Naruto was surprised to hear the vicious tone from Kakashi's mouth, speaking so loudly and angrily. The man always kept his cool. "This is ridiculous! You can give his team pardons but not him?!"

"They helped save the village-"

"And he helped save Naruto, Tsunade! He made a mistake, damn it! He's more than made up for it." Jiraiya practically spat.

"He nearly killed Naruto, too, if I remember correctly. Besides, the villages are pushing for-"

"So you're doing this for the other villages?! What of our own! Are we not supposed to protect our own?! I never thought you were so shallow!" Kakashi said.

"I AM THE HOKAGE!" the voices in the room were silenced immediately. "I am the one to make these decisions whether you like it or not! The elders agree with me. If Sasuke is captured within the Fire country, he WILL be sentenced to death. Is that understood?"

There was silence.

"What of his brother, Itachi?" was the question asked by Sai, which made Naruto jump out of the stillness he had suddenly adopted.

"As he can no longer manipulate his chakras and is one of the last three in his line, Itachi will be put on house arrest for an undetermined amount of time. He will be expected to take a wife and continue his line to keep the Sharingan alive. He cannot and will not be reinstated as a ninja. Now. Are my orders understood?" Her voice was hard, almost alien to Naruto's ears. Something itched at the back of his mind, but he couldn't follow his thoughts out of the stupor he had fallen into.

More silence.

"Understood…Lady Hokage." Came the replies of Jiraiya and Kakashi. They sounded like they wanted no more than to overturn the woman's position right then and there.

At that moment, Naruto's eyes snapped open and his hearing returned to normal. He heard a growl that didn't belong to him and that he was sure hadn't been heard by anyone besides him. He shoved himself away from the wall he was still leaned against and gripped the handles of both double doors in his now-clawed hands. Without hesitation, he flung the doors open wide.

He heard the crack of what must have been the door's lock as it broke unceremoniously against his strength. And, though he was sure he must have made an impressive figure as he strode in, he took advantage of the inhabitants' shock at his entrance and slammed the flat of his hand against Tsunade's desk. Out of the corners of his eyes, he saw Jiraiya and Kakashi inch away from him. He saw Sai, the duty-bound fool that he was, inch forward uncertainly, as if to protect Tsunade.

As he stared into the eyes of the woman in front of him, he was surprised to see the lack of fear, or even wariness. Instead, her face was…hard. Just like her voice had been before. There was no remorse, no sadness in her expression. She only looked calmly into his eyes.

Taking a quick survey of the room, Naruto gathered the expressions of the other three men in the room. Jiraiya's face revealed shock and worry, but Kakashi's blatant anger was all pushed into the glare he directed towards Tsunade. Sai's face was blank as always, but Naruto noted that Sai hadn't answered Tsunade's forceful question before, assuming he had been a part of the argument, so maybe the man was on his side after all.

He mentally shook his head and focused back in on Tsunade. She almost looked startled at the return of his, perhaps unwelcome, attention. He knew, after all, that his demonic cloak, Kyuubi's chakra, was beginning to form around him, making an aura of dark, red-orange light around him. And his eyes must have turned into the feral slits that so unsettled others.

"**Tell me now if what I just heard was the truth, Tsunade." **Naruto leveled his gaze at her, a demonic voice bleeding into his own, hinting at the power he now held. She looked down at her hands, unable to lock eyes with a demon.

"It was."

"**When were you going to tell me?" **The corners of his lips pulled back, revealing sharpened canines.

"I wasn't."

"**You were going to have me go to Sasuke and bring him back to meet his death." **It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

Naruto watched her face with a predatory glare. **"I trusted you. Even Sasuke trusted you. You promised you would help us."** She didn't say a word. Naruto knew she wouldn't. **"Add me to your list of missing-nin."**

"Why?" She must have known why. She wasn't stupid. Her eyes rose to meet his, and this time they held his biting gaze. Naruto turned around before he could lose his temper.

"**I can now be accused of aiding and abetting a known criminal." **As he turned around, he gave a decisive nod to Kakashi and Jiraiya. They both had pained looks on their faces. He knew they wanted to join him, but they had too much to live for in the village, too much to give up on. He turned to his teammate.

"Why are you giving me that look? I'm coming with you." The man said in reply to his glance-over. Naruto studied Sai, who had almost a smile on his face, and nodded slowly.

"Naruto…" Tsunade said, catching his attention.

"**What Tsunade?" **he indulged the woman, having acknowledged that the only reason he had not ripped her throat out was that he, in a very tiny portion of his heart, still cared for her.

"As there is no evidence yet that you have helped Sasuke, I cannot put you on that list. However, the next time you are seen anywhere near Sasuke, you will be labeled as a rogue ninja." She said formally. Naruto snorted and, with a nod turned and spoke to Sai. **"Meet me at the Uchiha compound."**

Sai nodded then. Naruto disappeared from the room the next second.

Jiraiya looked at Tsunade for a long, hard, second. "I don't know what made you do this, but you're a fool, and you've attracted a fool's enemies." Then he turned and followed Naruto's example with Kakashi on his heels.

With that, Tsunade was finally left alone in her office, her chin resting on her hands, which were propped up on her desk. Her hard expression withered, crumbling into a look of complete heartbreak. One of her hands slid down to clutch at her heart and tears slid down her cheeks to drop to her desk. She squeezed her eyes closed, hoarsely mumbling into the still silence of the room.

"Indeed. A fool I am. But the fool's choice was the only choice I had to make. He would have died if he'd stayed, taking the village along with him. I'm just sorry that I had to threaten Sasuke's life to make him leave."

**xXx**

The forest around him flashed by in blurs as he jumped from tree to tree, not entirely caused by the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes. Betrayed. They'd been betrayed. She said she would help him. She lied. But why? What reason did she have to do it? What use could Sasuke's death possibly serve?

A huge snake reared from its hiding place suddenly from Naruto's right. It went to strike. The next moment, its body fell in pieces to the ground, Naruto having never paused for a second.

_**Kit. You can't do this to yourself! You need your strength. Go find the others and tell them what you learned. They need to know. From there we can figure out what to do.**_His demon's voice was calm, though there was a slight growling edge to the words. He couldn't help but manage a small smile at her protectiveness

_Kyuu…_ The nickname, even in his own mind, came out like a whimper. _I'm afraid I won't be able to control my temper. What if I hurt them?_

_**The only reason you hurt others in the past is because I wanted to hurt them. Because I wanted out. Now, I don't want out. I **_**can't**_** get out. The only way you will hurt them is if you want to hurt them.**_

_But…I think I almost hurt Tsunade._

_**Because you wanted to.**_

Silence.

_**Stop running around in circles trying to burn off your temper and go find them. We should go find Sasuke before he leaves the Wave Country.**_

_Fine._ Naruto forced his fists to unclench and slowly turned back towards Konoha.

**xXx**

"Tsunade is prepared to offer all of you pardons. If you go with me, you'll be giving that up." Naruto warned finally after a brisk retelling of his experience in Tsunade's office.

"We'll go with you, of course." Konan stated firmly. The others around the table nodded. Suigetsu looked furious, and so did Juugo, which would have worried Naruto had he not grappled with Juugo's demon only two days ago. Konan and Karin actually seemed as if they were about to go and attack Tsunade themselves. Itachi stood up without saying anything.

"What about you, Itachi?" Naruto asked.

"I'm going to pack. If I'm not going to be coming back, I want to take some things with me." He said in his calm voice. Naruto smiled, but then frowned as he remembered something.

"But it'll be dangerous." Itachi turned back with a raised eyebrow. Naruto elaborated, recalling his surprise when Itachi had told Tsunade that he no longer had access to his chakra; it had been not long after he'd showed up in Jiraiya's room in the hospital. "I thought you couldn't manipulate your chakra." Itachi smirked.

"Just because I told her that does not mean it's true. How else would I escape persecution? Did you think she would let me roam around with the ability to kill anyone anytime I wanted?"

Naruto held his hands up in a sign of submission, a small smile playing on his lips. At least that was one thing they had that Konoha wouldn't know. "Just wondering." As the Uchiha continued out of the room, Naruto turned back to the rest of the people grouped in the kitchen.

"I think we should all follow Itachi's example. I want to leave as soon as possible and I have to get some things for Sasuke, too."

They all dispersed to their personal rooms.

**xXx**

Altogether, in their large group of seven, with the addition of Sai, they left the gates of Konoha not an hour after Naruto brought them the news of Tsunade's betrayal. Itachi had been kind enough to get Anbu masks for all of them to use to cover their features. It turned out that he had had a stash of them in his room in case his own had gotten messed up. They each wore a different mask.

Itachi wore his original raven mask. He had handed Naruto a mask that resembled the face of a fox. They'd both thought it rather ironic. Konan wore a Noh mask. There was no painting on it whatsoever, but it was sculpted into a woman's face, which fit her well. Naruto noticed that Karin and Suigetsu had received similar masks, both resembling deer, but with hers more feminine while his was more angular and strong. Juugo wore the mask of a bear. Sai had met up with them not long before they'd left the Uchiha compound with his own ANBU mask in place, having had the same idea as them. The less people who knew who they were and where they were going, the better.

They were met at the gates by seven more people. Tsunade, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Sakura, Shikamaru, Gaara, and Temari. Naruto completely ignored everyone else and stepped up to Gaara. Sliding his mask to the side of his head, Naruto smiled at the redhead. Not a second later, he was gripped in a tight hug, the Kazekage's arms around him.

"You're a fool."

"I know."

"If you ever need any help…"

"I know… Thank you."

The two parted, conscious of the stares that had been directed at them, but uncaring. Moving down the line, Naruto was slapped upside the head by both Sakura and Temari as they came up to him, then they both threw their arms around him, crushing him with all their strength, knowing they wouldn't see his again for a long time. Naruto did his best to return the motion.

When he was again released, his senseis both converged on him. Kakashi and him both locked eyes for a long moment and then the man held out two long, thin packages. When Naruto gave him a questioning glance, Kakashi explained. They're for you and Sasuke. Open yours once you're gone. Give the other to him when you rescue him. I'm just sorry I didn't work up the nerve to give them to the both of you sooner." Naruto blinked, remembering that everyone but the ones leaving with him still thought Sasuke was a captive of Madara. All the better, he supposed.

He registered the last of Kakashi's words, and the odd ring they held. He would never have accused Hatake Kakashi of lacking nerve.

"…Thank you, Sensei." Kakashi just nodded and backed away. A sorrowful, still-angry look was evident in his eyes.

"Don't forget about me!" Naruto found himself the object of a crushing hug from the overactive toad sage. A whisper met his ear. "Keep in touch. I will come meet you when I can. You are my godson, after all."

Naruto jolted back with wide eyes. Jiraiya nodded. "It's true. Here, I have a gift, too." He held out a large scroll for the blond to take. When he did so, Jiraiya spoke again. "I thought I'd wait until your eighteenth birthday to give you these, but it just didn't work out that way. This holds your father's journals, and his summoning contract. I trust you'll have some use for them?" Naruto's mouth opened and closed a few times before anything came out. "Thank you. You have no idea…" He trailed off, shocked out of words.

"Naruto." Itachi's voice met his ears. He looked back at his group, who were all standing off to the side together, having no reason to speak with the people who had gathered to see them off. "We have to go. Before someone changes their mind." There was no little hostility in the words that were obviously directed at Tsunade. The woman just kept watching them, not saying a word. Naruto dug in his pocket for a moment and then approached her. Seeing what he held out to her, Tsunade shook her head. She pushed the small crystal necklace back towards him.

"Please." The first words she'd said yet. They were strangled, as if caught in her throat. "Keep it."

"I can no longer be Hokage." The words seemed to physically strike at Tsunade.

"Keep it." She repeated firmly. Naruto nodded after looking into her face, searching it for answers. He found nothing. He backed up to stand with Sasuke's team, Sai, Itachi, and Konan and slid his mask back into place.

"Goodbye."

He walked out the gates of Konoha, fully expecting to never see it or its inhabitants ever again. Strangely, he didn't falter.

He felt lighter than ever.


	20. Meetings

**20**

They stopped to take a break once they were almost halfway to the rendezvous point. Naruto sat down on an old downed tree, and the others followed his example. He took off his mask; they did the same. He looked at them curiously, then spoke.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you guys are acting like I'm your leader. Why?"

Karin looked around at the others. "Well, I can only speak for myself, but until we find Sasuke, you would make a fine replacement. I mean, you can even control Juugo's Demon."

Juugo and Suigetsu nodded, agreeing with her. Naruto raised an eyebrow and shook his head with a smile.

"You already know my reasons." Konan said. "You are my leader unless you betray me."

"Same with me." Sai added. "You saved me from ROOT. Besides, I have no desire to stay anywhere where people betray someone so completely for making a mistake. Where else would I go?"

"And you, Itachi?" Naruto asked.

"Its natural law, isn't it? The weak stay with the strong to protect themselves. Both you and Sasuke are stronger than me now. Madara wants Uchiha eyes, regardless of if they work or not. I can help you, and you can help me. Not to mention, of course, I owe my brother quite a few years of my life."

"Quite the group of misfits, aren't we?" Naruto said with a sigh. The others joined him in wallowing in the irony of the situation.

"That's true. I've never seen the Hokage send off a whole bunch of Rogue ninja without making a move to capture them either. I suppose it was a last gift, huh?" Suigetsu said and there was scattering of laughing accompanying the comment.

Suddenly a thought came to Naruto. "After we find Sasuke, what are we gonna do?"

There was a long silence following the question and Itachi was the one who eventually answered him. "We aren't strong enough to go up against Madara as it is. I believe you had the same sentiments with starting to train for the rescue mission, but, I'm afraid it will take more than two weeks to train for something that big. Since Sasuke killed Orochimaru, Madara has taken over command of both Akatsuki and the Sound village, not to mention that more ninja are joining him every day. We don't have the numbers or strength to take down an organization of that size."

Suigetsu jumped in, surprising them. "Plus, if Madara is as strong as Konan and Boss Naruto say," Naruto snorted at the title, but Suigetsu ignored him. "Especially if he just brushed off Boss Sasuke's full-out attacks, then all of us together would have a hard time dealing with him."

Konan entered the conversation next. "Perhaps we should wander for a while. Wait until we're sure what resources Madara has, perhaps even gather our own. Madara himself won't get much stronger unless he gets hold of Naruto, Sasuke, or Itachi-san."

"We can't assume that, but we definitely need to keep them out of his line of sight." Sai added.

"Right." Naruto replied. "But, I guess we'll need to talk about this when Sasuke is with us. He'll have a hissy fit about not having been included in the plans." Everyone was amused at the mental picture his prediction formed and Itachi even snorted softly, gaining amused glances from the rest of the group. Naruto grinned.

"Well, is everyone rested? I know you guys want to get there as much as I do."

They all nodded.

"Let's go then."

They all put their masks back on and picked up the packs they had all discarded when they stopped. Naruto signaled their departure as he started running out of the clearing. They'd abandoned the road not long after leaving the Leaf village. Taking a straight shot to Wave, they would meet with Sasuke in a few hours.

**xXx**

Sasuke sat near the top of one of the three trees Team Seven had used for training all those years ago. This was the third day of the week time limit he had given Naruto. He and Deidara had camped here once they had left the village. Every day, Sasuke would do some training by himself, spar with Deidara, and then spend the rest of the time sitting in the tops of the trees. He'd had much time to think about things. One of which was whether he really wanted to go back to Konoha.

Sure he loved his old village, but he severely doubted he would be accepted back just like that. Even if Naruto backed him. But he wanted to be near Naruto. Why? Why was the blond so important to him?

"Damn it! I should never have left in the first place!" he growled.

"Damn right you shouldn't have!"

Sasuke almost fell out of the tree. He hadn't even felt the man come near.

"Naruto!" The blond grinned at him, crouching on the tree limb of the tree opposite him like a bird. Then he pounced. Sasuke barely kept his footing on the tree as Naruto jumped at him, clutching him in his arms, tightly hugging him.

"I wish I had had the chance to do this in Konoha." Naruto whispered harshly in his ear. "I missed you so much."

"I…missed you, too. And…I'm sorry." He replied in an uncharacteristic, soft, hesitant voice.

Naruto pulled back with an expression that said he didn't know what Sasuke was talking about.

"For everything. For trying to kill you, for hurting you, for not listening to you-" He would have continued, but Naruto cut him off, and he was almost thankful for it.

"You did nothing wrong. You made a mistake, that's all, albeit a rather big and important one." Naruto barked out a laugh and shook his head. "I've long forgiven you. Why else do you think I've been searching for you?"

"I don't know, dobe. How could I ever know what a dunce like you would think?" Sasuke said sarcastically to regain a bit of his face after being-Kami forbid!-sentimental.

"Ooh, what kind of way is that to treat someone who came all the way out here to look for you?" Naruto smiled, even as he pouted.

"If you'll remember the letter, I didn't ask you to come." They kept up their banter for a few minutes before they were interrupted by soft laughter.

"I see you're feeling alright, Uchiha-kun." Finally being released by Naruto- they'd only just then realized they were still in each other's arms, which was more than a bit awkward- Sasuke saw the woman, Konan, standing beside them on the branch. He cursed himself that he hadn't noticed her approach either. He was getting out of practice.

"Yeah, you should come down and see everyone, Sasuke. But, first-" He said as Sasuke started to move to jump down to the ground, which was barely in sight from this height. The Uchiha paused and looked back. "You need to keep an open mind. Your brother, he's alive." He had to tighten his grip on Sasuke's arm to stop him from immediately moving. His eyes had widened and flickered down at the branches below them, as if he could see past them and to the ground. "Let him explain before you try to kill him, alright?"

"I don't plan on killing him, damn it! Let me see my brother!"

"Okay, okay! Just trying to help!" Naruto yelped as he was pushed back. Sasuke free fell to the ground. Before Naruto and Konan left the branch, though, Naruto leaned back against the trunk and heaved a sigh.

"Are you all right?" Konan asked

"I'm fine, I think. I'm just so glad that he's okay. If Madara had-"

"It wouldn't have been your fault."

"I know. I just…I don't know what I would have done..." Konan gave him a curious look, like she was working on a puzzle and was deciding which of two pieces fit in a particular spot.

"Naruto-kun…Are you…?" Naruto shook his head, apparently brushing off his contemplative mood. He looked up and smiled at her.

"Call me Naruto, Konan. Am I what?"

"No, never mind. We should go down there. I want to see Team Hawk's reactions."

Naruto gave her a confused look, but nodded in agreement. "Yeah, let's go."

**xXx**

By the time they were down on the ground, Naruto and Konan only just managed to hear the ends of the conversation between Itachi and Sasuke.

"…was a clone. I still had a few things that I needed to do, but you needed the Mangekyou."

Sasuke pursed his lips in a scowl that someone could have described as a pout, had they wanted to be killed. "And that's the only reason I beat you? That's not fair, Aniki."

Everyone in the group could tell that calling Itachi by this familial title was Sasuke's way of reconciliation. Neither Uchiha could apologize, because both had believed they'd been in the right. Now they just…understood each other.

"Well, think of it this way. You're stronger than me, now."

"Yeah, yeah._ Now_." He huffed and turned away slightly. "Why are all these people here? Surely you didn't need such a big force to take me back this time, Naruto." Sasuke said when he saw Naruto and Konan step into the circle that was surrounding him. Team Hawk stood off to the side, behind and to the right of Itachi. Sai stood opposite them and he saw Konan go to stand next to him after jumping down from the tree after Naruto. Naruto grimaced at Sasuke.

"We're not going back."

"What? Why?"

"Tsunade basically put out a 'dead or alive' order on your head. If you go back, you will be killed or sentence to life in a maximum security prison." Karin told him. Sasuke's eyes widened. He seemed to be struck speechless at the news.

"I know." Naruto said, interpreting his expression into words. "So we all left. I refuse to stay there if you're not allowed to come back."

"But, Naruto…" Sasuke locked eyes with Naruto. The blond knew what Sasuke was about to say in that moment.

"We'll talk about it later, alright?" Sasuke hesitated before nodding. But, abruptly, the tension of the short conversation between the two of them and the others, who were wondering what Naruto and Sasuke were keeping from them, was cut to shreds.

"Ne, Sasuke~! Why didn't you tell me they were here?!" A loud, annoying voice pierced there little solitary haven. Both Sasuke and Naruto blinked, suddenly realizing that everyone in the group was staring at them, or rather, _had been_ staring at them. _Now_ they were staring at Deidara, who had just shown up, jumping down into the clearing with a bag in his hand, which he threw down next to a tree behind him.

Everyone in the group turned to look at Sasuke again when the man whined Sasuke's name at them again. The younger Uchiha in the group glared at the ex-Akatsuki member. "Deidara. Be quiet."

"Ooh. You're mean, Sasu-chan!" Glancing around the group, Deidara gasped and grinned. Then he proceeded to dart at Itachi. The group was surprised, to say the least, when Itachi didn't move, but allowed Deidara to hug him. Even more so when he hugged back. Deidara nuzzled Itachi's neck. "I missed you 'tachi."

"Aa. How are you 'dara?"

"I'm fine. How'd your brother take your appearance?"

"Why don't you ask him?"

Deidara chuckled. "That would be a good idea, wouldn't it?" The blond turned in Itachi's arms to look at the other confused ninja of the group with Itachi's arms still around him. Deidara was short enough compared with Itachi that Itachi could, and did, rest his chin on the other man's head. Naruto blinked.

"I assume that this is the ex-Akatsuki member you were saying freed you, Sasuke?" At Sasuke's nod, Naruto strode up to Deidara. Stopping, Naruto bowed formally to the man. "Thank you."

Deidara was silent for a second before he grinned. "No problem, Uzumaki-kun. I would have done it for Itachi anyway, though."

"All the same…"

"Itachi…Are you two…together?" Sasuke asked tentatively, stepping forward and interrupting Naruto's motions on his behalf.

"Yep, that's right! We got together not long after I joined Akatsuki." Deidara answered for Itachi, grinning brightly. Itachi just nodded, backing up Deidara's statement by taking Deidara's wrist and bringing it to his lips. Deidara blushed.

Naruto grinned. "Cool. It's good you found someone, 'tachi-san." Itachi's lip twitched upwards into a small smile, but it disappeared a moment after it graced his features. Looking at Sasuke, the older Uchiha could see the smirk on the other's lips.

"What the dobe said." Sasuke added in approval. He wasn't about to object to his brother's relationship choices when he'd just gotten the man back. Regardless of if Itachi's boyfriend was annoying or not. He just wondered how ithad happened.

Deidara grinned at him. "Yay! Sasuke approves! I told you not to worry, but no~_._ Don't listen to me!" Itachi cuffed him on the ear. "Hey~! 'Tachi! Don't be mean. You just don't like admitting I'm right!"

"Exactly." Itachi muttered, putting his nose in the crook of Deidara's neck and inhaling, as if reaffirming the man's scent.

They all looked on the scene with a feeling of contentment for the two. It was strange, seeing as some of them had only just met the two. Konan shook her head at the couple. She would have let the moment continue, however, they needed to talk over a few things. Plus, there was a question she had for Naruto.

"Naruto…" She asked quietly, breaking the moment. Naruto turned to look at her in question. "Was there a reason you and Sasuke were just staring at each other when we first got here?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto replied. He glanced at Sasuke. "We were talking to each other."

"Naruto, neither of you said a word."

"It must have been the Sharingan." Itachi said suddenly. "Sasuke pulled Naruto into his Sharingan mindscape and they talked there. Me and 'dara did the same thing accidentally sometimes when we weren't paying attention to anything else."

"Interesting." Konan said. Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances and shrugged. Well, Naruto shrugged. Sasuke just raised an eyebrow. Naruto shook his head, amused at the…lack of expression… Sasuke was trying to give out.

"Well, regardless of newly discovered skills, we need to figure out what we're going to do from now on…" Konan said.

**xXx**

The newly completed group sat around a moderately sized fire, underneath the tree they'd met up with Sasuke at. Everyone was relaxed at the moment, but anyone looking at their expressions could tell they were discussing something important.

"So we're all agreed?" Naruto asked. "We'll wander?"

"I don't see another choice. I don't like the idea of staying in one place with the reputations we all have." Sasuke said.

Suigetsu's head shot up, startling Karin and Juugo, who were both sitting next to him, Karin leaning against Suigetsu's shoulder with her legs draped over Juugo's thighs. It was an amusing picture, and Naruto saw that Sai had his sketchbook out and was occasionally looking up at the trio and then back at the paper, his pencil moving rapidly yet precisely.

"Hey, hey! Why don't we create a third side?" He said.

All of them looked at him as if he was crazy until Karin asked him to explain. "There are two sides of the war right now, right? Konoha and most of the other villages and then there's Madara, with all the rogues and outcasts and crap. What if we were to create a third side? There are people who don't want to join Madara in the war, even when they don't know he's the one leading his side, but some don't want to join the villages, either. We can offer them an area in between and protect them or, at least, offer support.

"Think about it. We don't agree with any of the leaders of the villages, and they're just as bad as Madara's side at times. So basically, we're a wild card. We can work towards either side as long as it benefits our goals. We can offer services to people who need them and all the while, work on ridding both sides of the corrupted leaders."

The other eight ninja in the old training area looked at him as if he had only just suddenly grown a brain.

"What? Just because I'm a missing-nin doesn't mean I'm stupid." He smirked as he said it, content in the fact that he had managed to throw them all for a loop.

"That's…" Naruto started. "That's not a bad idea. Right now, the villages are all acting biased in who they let request missions. We can start our own village, in name at least. We don't have to make a huge town or anything, but the people who become 'citizens' are people on our side. We can take missions and, like he said, work on both sides until we can take them both down or make them change. Like Akatsuki, but for a better purpose!"

As he spoke, people were nodding.

"I like it." Konan said.

"I do as well. It suits our situation perfectly, and we can move as we please if we keep it secret long enough." Sai said.

"We have enough estates in different villages under the Uchiha name that we could move discreetly, right Itachi?" Sasuke added.

"Yes, we do. I agree as well, and it gives us something to do while we travel, too. I have a few contacts we could talk to who would agree to the idea easily."

"What about you three?" Naruto directed the question to Juugo, Deidara, and Karin.

Juugo and Karin nodded slowly, still thinking it over. Lastly, Deidara hmm-ed and nodded as well.

"It needs some refinement," He said. "But it could work."

"Then we've got our plan." Naruto grinned.


	21. Pleasant Gifts

**21**

"Finally!" He said loudly as he let his body fall back into the soft grass. Naruto felt the slow, warm, steady throb of his muscles; the familiar aftermath of an extended period of training.

"I know. I mean, how long should it take for a person to master one technique?" A sarcastic voice sounded from behind him. Naruto tilted his head back and held up a hand to block the sun from his eyes as he looked up at Sasuke with a small scowl. He knew the raven was just teasing him, but he gave an answer anyway, replying in the same sarcastic tone.

"You're one to talk. I would ask you how long it took you to master _your_ kekkei genkai techniques, but you _still _haven't, have you? Don't give me that look." The blond practically singsonged when Sasuke glared at him. "You shouldn't have said it unless you were prepared for my reply." Sasuke gave him a blank look, to which he responded with a grin. He patted the ground to his right and Sasuke took the proffered spot.

It was the day after they had met up with Sasuke in the Wave Country. They'd made their plans then formed a temporary camp at the training grounds. Naruto had gone to visit Haku and Zabuza's grave that night and had come back to find everything already settled down. It was afternoon now, and Naruto had been training since early morning.

"Only you would complain about mastering a technique in half a day, dobe."

"Well…" Naruto started, trying to come up with a reasonable retort. "There's only so long it should take to master a technique when you're using one thousand clones."

"And only you could summon a thousand clones, _shadow_ clones, no less, keep them stable, _and_ train at the same time."

"Now that I can access Kyuu's chakras, I could actually make quite a few more than that. I just didn't want to overly exhaust myself." Naruto protested, knowing he was only giving Sasuke more ammunition to mess with him.

"That's a first. Usually you just train until you fall over asleep."

"That only happened once…okay, maybe twice. But, still!"

They fell into a comfortable silence, staring at the moving clouds in the deep blue sky and playing with the grass beneath their fingers.

"Sasuke…"

"What, dobe?"

"Are…are you okay? I know no one's asked what happened, but I want to know." Naruto said slowly.

"I'm okay now, but it wasn't the best trip I've ever had." Sasuke said, tensing, remembering his treatment.

"What happened?" Naruto pressed. He didn't like the way Sasuke was reacting.

"He…the first night I was there he…" Sasuke stopped and shook his head, clenching his fingers and breathing a little more harshly. He didn't know why, but he felt he could tell Naruto everything, even what that man had done to him. He shuddered visibly. "Orochimaru. That snake's alive."

"What? How?"

"Kabuto. Orochimaru took over his body. He's working with Madara. He was there when me and Madara arrived." Naruto moved to sit up and turned to face Sasuke, staring hard to try and figure out what exactly was making the stoic Uchiha show signs of a breakdown. The raven's shoulders were shaking, his head down so that his bangs hid his face. "He took me to a cell. They cuffed me with chakra repressors. He…I…couldn't…I couldn't get away…" Naruto gasped, realizing exactly what had happened that first night.

He wasn't blind. He'd seen how Orochimaru had looked at Sasuke years ago in the Forest of Death, the look of lust and want. That was one of the unspoken reasons why he had tried to stop Sasuke leaving. Naruto had seen that same look in the eyes of many villagers and he'd felt the results it, once. He hadn't wanted those results to be directed at Sasuke. It had seemed that Orochimaru had kept his hands to himself until recently though, if Sasuke's reaction was any clue.

"Oh…Kami. Sasuke…" He reached out tentatively and pulled Sasuke to him when the man didn't move away. "I'm so sorry. I… I didn't want that to ever happen to you." His breath caught when he realized how that phrase could be turned back on him, but he pushed back his panic with his need to comfort Sasuke.

Sasuke continued as if he hadn't heard Naruto at all. "I tried to get away, but he tied me down. I couldn't move. He just kept…Kept touching me-" Sasuke broke off, his voice cracking. "He…I'm glad Deidara got me out when he did. He…he didn't get the chance to…do that again. They kept me in the same cell and chained me to a wall. The way I was chained up, I couldn't sleep. After I refused to eat or drink the first time, they didn't give me food or water. Then they came every few hours to torture me. Then they healed me. Then it started all over again. Kami, it felt so much longer than four days…"

Naruto pulled Sasuke closer when he felt the man's arms wrap around him. One of his hands moved to play with Sasuke's hair, trying to calm the raven down. He felt Sasuke bury his face into his shoulder. From his viewpoint, Naruto saw Konan walk from the woods that surrounded the open field he'd been training in. She spotted them a moment later and sent him a questioning look. He gestured with one hand for her to stay away, and she left, returning to their camp, presumably. He turned his attention back to Sasuke.

"Sasuke…Sasuke, I'm so sorry. It's my fault; I should have gone with him. Then you'd be alright. He would have never touched you."

"'s not your fault." Came a soft reply.

"Yes it is, and you know it." Naruto said with a hard voice. Sasuke's voice hitched. "But…we can't change what's been done. We've decided, haven't we? We're going to fight them all, and we're going to win. You can leave Orochimaru to rot in a cell for the rest of his pitiful life once I'm through with him. How does that sound?"

"And what do you plan to do to him?" Sasuke chuckled slightly, still holding tightly onto him.

"Well, see, me and Kyuu have this nice little new technique. It's rather horrifying. I'm sure Orochimaru will be enjoying it for a long while once I get a hold of him."

"What does it do?" Sasuke asked, his voice a little steadier.

"That, my dear Teme, is for me to know and you to guess at."

Sasuke laughed, not a chuckle and not very loudly, but it was a laugh. Naruto smiled, glad that he could do something right with Sasuke. The man pulled back a little, but stayed close to him, still touching shoulders with him.

"Thank you." Sasuke said, keeping his head down. "I needed that."

Naruto looked wistful. "Everyone does every once in a while."

"What about you?"

"Huh?" He began to tense up a little at the question, wondering if Sasuke had caught his wording, but it was revealed to be a false alarm as Sasuke cleared his throat and clarified his question. Naruto had never been more thankful that Sasuke hadn't yet regained his wits. He told himself over and over again to think about his words, but his mouth just seemed to be throwing things out.

"What happened after I was taken?"  
"Well, Konan was pretty beat up. I carried her out and then her tower collapsed. Turns out that she was unconsciously holding it up until we could get out; she's pretty powerful. I managed to get halfway back to the village before passing out, then I sent a pulse of chakra at the village and Tsunade and your team came looking for me. After a nice little chat with your team-they're pretty protective of you, you know-Kyuu started breaking the seal Madara put on me."

Sasuke gave a watery laugh at the comment about his team, but adopted an alarmed look at the mention of Madara's seal. It seemed that he'd remembered what Madara had said at the end of their fight, and had picked up on how dangerous it might be for a seal that locked away a demon to be broken. Naruto nodded.

"The only problem was that she had to merge her chakra system with mine to do it, so, yeah… She can't take over when I get mad, and I can access her chakra freely, although I'm still having trouble with my temper. Seems that I have developed some of the same tendencies and characteristics as she has: temper, hearing, smell, strength, etc…"

"So you're ahead of me again." Sasuke deadpanned. Naruto restrained his urge to laugh at Sasuke's practical _need_ to be the best at everything.

"Well, not really. Once you get a hang of the Mangekyou, you'll be pretty much even, seeing as you have the eternal Mangekyou, which means you won't go blind. I was gonna let you look at my dad's journal with me if you wanted to. It has some pretty awesome jutsu in it that I was sure you'd want to see."

"Your dad?"

Naruto grinned. "The Yondaime-Hokage: Minato Namikaze" He stated proudly. "And my mom was from the Whirlpool country. Her name was Kushina Uzumaki. I just found out when I was fighting Pein."

"Wow…"Sasuke said, slightly shocked. "So you can't be a complete dunce, then." Naruto bumped his shoulder, and Sasuke returned the motion, but his brow furrowed. "Why did they keep it from you?"

"They actually kept it from the whole village. No one knew but Jiraiya, Tsunade, and the elders. My parents both died in the attack from the Kyuubi. Dad sealed her inside me because when I was born, the seal weakened on Mom, who was the previous Jinchuuriki, and then Madara forced Kyuubi to attack the village at the same time to save her pups, who he had threatened, which eventually led to her being sealed in me…" He took a breath and Sasuke scoffed at Naruto's long, simplistic wording. "I'm glad no one knew, though. Because then they would have treated me like a prince when I walked by and then talked as if I were a monster the moment I was out of sight. I'm just happy I knew where I stood with them."

Sasuke was silent for a moment. Then he remembered what he'd been about to ask Naruto the day before, when Naruto had stopped him from speaking about it in front of everyone else. For a moment, he thought to ask why Naruto had stopped him from asking in front of the others, but then he realized that that specific question could have led to a more personal conversation. With that understanding, he decided to leave well enough alone and just ask his original question.

"What about your dream?" Again, Naruto knew what he was asking immediately.

"What did I tell you back when you left for Orochimaru?"

Sasuke scoffed, not in humor this time, but with a bitter taste on his tongue. "You mean when I almost killed you."

"Yes-but you're forgiven, remember? I told you that I can't be the hokage if I can't protect my best friend. If the village can't accept you, then it can't accept me. Although one would think that my crimes would be more than worth death in the eyes of most the villagers…" Naruto mused.

"You idiot. You haven't done a thing to deserve that."

"I exist. That's enough for most people."

Sasuke couldn't think of anything to say to that, at least, nothing that he hadn't already said in the past. "Naruto…"

"Look. I don't want to be hokage anymore, not without you there. We can just start a new future away from the village."

"That's still cruel to you…" Sasuke said, glaring at the ground.

"But it's done and over with. Can't change it now."

They settled into a short silence again.

"We're leaving tomorrow, right?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah. Oh! Wait, I actually forgot to give something to you. It's from Kakashi-sensei. I know he wanted to come too, but he had too many things going for him at Konoha. Hold on, it's in my bag. I haven't looked at the one he gave me, either."

Naruto stood easily and moved around the tree and grabbed the bag he'd brought with him. It held some food, his extra weapons, some money, the scroll Jiraiya had given him, and the two packages that Kakashi had given him. He pulled out the one that had "Sasuke" written on the outside of it and took out the one labeled for him. He held his in his lap and waited for Sasuke to open his, wanting to see what their sensei had given him.

Sasuke slowly opened his gift, unwrapping it carefully. Pulling the last strip of the thick paper off, he sat back against the tree with a slow exhalation. His eyes were wide, and when he met Naruto's eyes, he could see that he was just as surprised. On his lap sat Kakashi's tanto, the one passed down to him by his father. There was a note attached to the hilt of the blade by a line of twine.

_Sasuke,_

_I am sorry that I could not keep Tsunade from making this decision. I know that you use another blade. The _Kusanagi_, was it? Either way, I had hoped you could also use this. This blade was my father's, as you most likely know, and is uniquely suited to the properties of lightning. I have no need of it any longer. Who should it go to but my protégée? Be safe._

_ -Hatake, Kakashi_

Naruto read over the note. "Well, we can safely say that Kakashi is on our side. Either that, or he's gone completely insane."

"We can't be sure about that. Maybe it's just a parting gift, but, hopefully, it's the former. What did he give you?"

Naruto shook his head and began opening the oblong package. This one was different than Sasuke's. It was not all stiff, as if there were multiple small things inside it. Once he caught sight of the gift his sensei had given him, his jaw dropped more than one would think it could. There was also a note from Kakashi to Naruto on it and it was significantly longer than Sasuke's.

_Hey Naruto,_

_ I know you probably forgot about this after you left. You're probably already on your way to find Sasuke. I wanted you to know something. I was going to tell you after everything calmed down, but it seems I won't have the chance now. When I was a Genin, I was in the team your father led. He was the best role model I could ever hope for. He was the greatest man I've ever known, and I want you to realize that he is not someone you should ever feel ashamed of._

_ These were presents from him to me back during the first war. He would flash-step from kunai to kunai to move quickly. Did you know he was nick-named the Yellow Flash because of it? They also never dull, so if you ever use them, make sure to retrieve them after the fight's over. _

_ The other three are some things that should have gone to you when he and your mother died, and I should have given them to you a long time ago myself. I'm sorry I'm only doing it now._

_You have a house in the mountains to the east of Konoha, although Minato and Kushina never spent much time there, so it's really not commonly known in Konoha now. This is the key to it- he used to have me clean it for him as an extra mission on the side. The hitai-ate was your father's and this picture is of him and your mother while she was pregnant with you. She gave me hell for taking a picture of her while she was 'fat' but, really, she was beautiful. Pregnancy suited her. And they both loved you with all their hearts._

_ I want both you and Sasuke to be safe. Live well, and contact me any time you need something. I would have said much the same in Sasuke's letter, but I know he doesn't appreciate 'mushy stuff'. I don't ever want to hear a word from ANBU that you've been spotted, and since Itachi's probably going with you, you have no excuse._

_ With love from sensei, Hatake, Kakashi_

By the time he'd finished reading the letter, Naruto was crying, holding the picture of his parents in one hand and his father's headband in the other. Sasuke sat next to him reading the letter over his shoulder with an arm around him, smiling softly and fingering one of the kunai that had fallen to the ground.

It seemed their sensei was really on their side. Good to know. One less enemy to take down.

**xXx**

Konan walked down the animal trail to their not-so-small camp. There were five tents. Naruto and Sasuke were in one, then Itachi and Deidara, for obvious reasons. Since it was not supposed to be known that Karin and Suigetsu were…something… Karin and Konan were sharing a tent and Suigetsu and Juugo were in another. Sai, the lucky bastard, had one to himself.

At this particular moment, Itachi and Deidara were somewhere out in the forest together and Karin, Suigetsu, and Juugo were speaking quietly around the remains of the small fire they'd started last night. Sai had gone off to get some supplies and talk to some contacts he said he had in the area.

The three left in camp looked up at her entrance.

"I thought you were going to check on Naruto, Konan." Juugo asked softly.

"I was, but, it turns out he and Sasuke were talking about something important. Naru-chan probably got Sasuke to tell him what happened when he was taken by Madara. He looked rather upset." She said. "But he should be alright. He's got Naru-chan to help him."

"I wouldn't have been so reassured to hear that before a few days ago. Konan, do you think something is going on between those two?" Karin asked.

"I don't know. Is there something going on between you and Suigetsu?" Karin blushed and Konan smirked. "To be honest, I don't think they even see it, but there's something more than friendship there. Anyway, I think we should go scout the area for a bit, see what's around, just in case we ever need to come back. It's a good meeting place, being so isolated."

They all nodded at her suggestion.

**xXx**

Deidara panted as he felt Itachi's hands move soothingly across his chest. "If this is the thanks I get when I save your little brother, I think I should do it more often."

They lay under the dark canopy of trees, naked bodies intertwined on a layer of clothes, coming down from their natural high. Deidara was playing with a strand of Itachi's black hair that fell into his face as he leaned back into the man's chest.

"You can have this treatment anytime you want 'dara, and you know it. I love you."

"And I you. But you haven't answered me yet. Are you going to stay with your brother this time? If you leave again, it'll break him. You wouldn't believe how many times he asked me about you after I mentioned that you were alive. If I'd known he hadn't known, I wouldn't have said anything."

"I won't leave this time. Besides, I think this is the right way to go about the war this time around. Naruto is smart. Smarter than I gave him credit for. I'd like to think that the nine-tails is giving him the knowledge and cunning he's been showing, but I don't believe that. He's much to mature for his age, even as a ninja. I don't like it."

"Maybe you should talk to Sasuke. He knows him best, after all."

"Maybe."

Deidara tilted his head back to capture Itachi's lips in a deep yet almost chaste kiss. "How about another round before we go back, 'tachi?"

"Mmm…I wouldn't object to that..."

At that, Itachi flipped them over. "But don't complain when the others comment on a limp."

Deidara smirked, breathless. "Never."

**xXx**

Sai nodded at the strongly built, older man.

"Thanks, Tazuna-san. We appreciate your help."

"It's the least I can do. Ask if Naruto will stop by later, please? Tell him we won't tell a soul, but we want to see him and Sasuke again before we leave for Konoha. We were supposed to leave today, but, hell, I want to see our heroes again. Tell him we'll help him any way we can."

"I'm sure he'll be glad to know that he already has allies. Thank you, again."

"No problem. Take care of yourselves."

Sai nodded and took off down the bridge back into town. Now, all he needed was to get some supplies to last them on their way to Sunagakure. They'd all agreed that they needed to make contact with as many of their sure allies as they could as soon as possible. Then they were off to Kumogakure to talk with another Bijuu host by the name of Killer Bee.


	22. A Choice

**22**

"I didn't want to involve you in any of this, Tazuna-san," Naruto said as he retreated to catch his breath from the man's tight hug. "But Sai insisted that you were probably going to come find me if I didn't go to you." Naruto smile widely.

"And he was right, Naruto." Tazuna returned. "I wouldn't pass up the chance to see two of the ninja who saved our village. I just wanted to tell you to your face that my family will help you as much as we can."

"We appreciate it, we really do."

The rogue ninja, all nine, stood outside Tazuna's home with the bridge builder, his daughter, and Inari. They'd met before dawn and it was still dark, with only the beginning rays of the sun starting to light the ends of the sky. Naruto had made several comments over how tall and grown up Inari had gotten and Inari had beamed at the praise from his childhood idol. Sasuke had since retreated back to his brother's side, having been hugged twice too many times for his liking. And Inari was now close to tears as Naruto bade him and his family goodbye.

"Will we see you again soon?" Inari asked.

"I'm not sure. We're gonna be traveling around for a bit, but I know we'll see each other again. If only when we're old geezers like gramps over there."

"Hey!" Tazuna mock-glared. Inari laughed.

Bidding there farewells, Naruto's group left the Village Hidden in the Mist.

**xXx**

"No, Naruto. Turn with your whole body."

"I know, I'm trying, Itachi." Naruto panted. He fell back into the stance he'd held so many times already that day, settling his right leg further forward into a wide stance and leaning all his weight on his left foot behind him.

Not giving him any warning, Itachi shot at him, his leg shooting towards Naruto's head. Naruto stiffened, pulled his left leg further back and to the side while turning his shoulders and head with it, causing Itachi's kick to pass no more than an inch away from his nose. In the same movement, he let his body's weight pull his right leg off the ground, causing it to follow the force of the turn and sending it flying at Itachi. The Uchiha blocked the kick with his right arm and jumped back.

"Better. Now, do it again." Itachi nodded even as he shot forward again, not giving Naruto even a moment of respite.

**xXx**

"Come on! That can't be all you've got!" Sasuke shouted.

Suigetsu and Juugo flew at him without replying. Suigetsu swung his sword low, forcing Sasuke to jump to avoid it even as Juugo ran to tackle him. Sasuke planted his hands on Juugo's broad shoulders and flipped over his head to land easily on the ground behind them both.

"No fair, Boss! Put away your Sharingan!" Suigetsu yelled.

"If you can learn to conceal your next moves against the Sharingan, then you can conceal them from almost anyone! If you can't do even that, how are you supposed to live up to the title of one of the Seven Legendary Swordsman?!"

Suigetsu growled and he and his sword dissolved into water. The next second, as Juugo charged Sasuke yet again, Suigetsu reappeared behind Sasuke and held him still with his sword at Sasuke's neck.

"How's that?" Suigetsu asked into the Uchiha's ear. Juugo reared back his fist and rammed it into Sasuke's stomach and…the raven disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Better, but not good enough." Came the amusedly mocking voice from within the trees. "See if you can catch me." Suigetsu growled and Juugo laughed at his teammates' actions. They moved the mock battle into the trees.

**xXx**

Naruto's group walked at a moderate pace through the trees, trekking over roots and brush since they'd abandoned the path long ago to shake off any unwanted company.

"How long until we get there?!" Karin asked. "I'm gonna have to get some new clothes sometime soon. This training is wearing them out!"

"We should be there in a few days if we keep up this pace. But we have to be careful. Gaara has to be in the Wind Country before we can cross into Suna's territory, or else we'll be attacked by guards on the border. I doubt he'll be too happy if we kill any of his ninja. That's why we're moving so slowly as it is." Naruto answered.

"I can't imagine he'll be too happy with Tsunade's course of action against us, so he should already be back, and if not, then he will be soon. I think the only reason he agreed to the treaty between Konoha and Suna was because of you, Naruto." Sasuke said, pushing a tree limb out of his way and holding it until Konan had a hand on it so it wouldn't fly back into her face. She nodded in thanks and passed the branch back to the next person in the line.

Naruto rubbed his hand at the back of his neck with a grin on his face. "Actually, he _told_ me it was. We made a promise not too long after the Chuunin exams that we'd make a treaty between Konoha and Suna. He told me later that if he waited for me…" Naruto paused for a moment. "He said if he waited till I was Hokage to make a treaty, then our villages would have already fought each other to extinction."

"Yeah, that could never happen after all this-" Suigetsu started, but cut himself off as Sasuke glared at him sharply. Looking back at Naruto, the water user noticed that the blond was not in the best of moods now. A complete turn-around from his mood only a few minutes ago. Then he realized why. Everyone in the group had been told at one time or another, by Sasuke or from Naruto himself, that being Hokage was Naruto's dream. Suigetsu nearly slapped himself on the head for his comment.

"But, I mean, we can probably create a treaty between our group and them after all this is over. The Kazekage might even agree to create one when we get there in a few days!"

Naruto smiled at the thought. "Yeah, probably."

Suigetsu grinned as his words succeeded in brightening Naruto's mood; it seemed that when the blond was in a bad mood, it was simply impossible for anyone else to be in a good one.

Everyone watching the exchange just smiled. Or, in the Uchihas' case, smirked.

**xXx**

Seven of the nine rogue ninja slowly making their way to Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand, sat in the shade and watched in amusement and amazement as their resident Jinchuuriki trained. Naruto must have had at least five hundred clones in the large clearing and the surrounding trees, if not more. He'd paired them all off to train on different things; his Rasengan, his Kekkei Genkai, Taijutsu, the list went on. Each pair gave the surrounding pairs enough room to work with, but there had to be at least two hundred pairs in plain sight.

Thankfully, for the onlookers' eyes' sake, Naruto had decided to forgo his orange outfit, instead wearing what were obviously clothes from Sasuke; a black shirt with the Uchiha symbol on the back and a pair of grey shorts. So they didn't have to squint at the large group of training clones to see past the orange color.

Naruto (the original as far as they could tell) and Sasuke were both standing, looking at a scroll in Naruto's hands, somehow managing to ignore the chaos all around them. A second later, when Naruto rolled the scroll back up, he pulled two three-pronged kunai from his weapons pouch and threw them across the field, over the head of a few training clone pairs. When he turned back to Sasuke, he said something and showed him three hand signs. Sasuke nodded and copied the hand signs. They were practicing the hand signs before they used them, apparently checking that they were the correct ones. After doing this, the two teens turned and walked a little distance away from each other. Sasuke said something and Naruto laughed, saying something in return that made Sasuke scowl.

Then, at the same time, they formed the hand signs they had shown each other only moments ago and, as the group in the shade watched on, they disappeared.

The ninja watching panicked for a moment, though no one stood.

"What happened, 'tachi?" Deidara asked, having noticed Itachi looked completely calm.

"'Dara, look at the kunai Naruto threw." The man said in a somewhat exasperated voice.

The others looked back to the clearing-turned training field and saw at once what had happened. Naruto and Sasuke each stood right next to one of the kunai, Sasuke with a surprised look and Naruto with a broad grin and a fist up in the air.

"They…" Suigetsu trailed off.

Karin finished for him with wide eyes. "They managed the jutsu on their first try."

"And _that_ is why we're following them." Konan said with a smile.

They all flinched, in various degrees, as a humongous crash filled the air.

Their eyes were drawn to the scene of two of Naruto's clones giving each other high fives. Next to them was a crater almost thirty feet wide. From their position, they couldn't see the bottom of it.

"Konoha ninja are insane!" Suigetsu exclaimed, then he gulped. "Um…no offense Itachi… Sai."

The two silent men smirked in amusement.

**xXx**

Karin and Konan stood in the middle of the forest.

"Now, focus on Sai's chakra, even if you can't feel it right now. Remember what it felt like and try to grasp it, searching out in the forest with your senses. This type of Chakra sensory is different from what they teach you in the villages. They tell you to focus on your surrounding first, but really, that should be the last step. Until you can get a good grasp of sensing the different nature of human chakras, your senses will be distracted by the natural chakras around you."

"You're a good teacher, Karin-san. I was never any good at chakra sensory, but I understand the way you're explaining it." Konan mumbled while she closed her eyes, trying to do what Karin had said.

Karin laughed. "Thanks. Now, where do you think he is? What direction?"

Konan was quiet for a moment, concentrating on the feeling she remembered from feeling Sai's chakra, then searched the forest for it. Karin had told her to memorize it before she'd asked Sai to go and hide amongst the trees. Konan pulled in a breath three minutes later.

Raising a hand, she pointed a little off to her left. "He's that way."

Karin smiled. "Very good. Now can you pinpoint him?"

**xXx**

Naruto, Sasuke, Sai, Itachi, Deidara, Konan, Karin, Suigetsu, and Juugo all sat around the fire, recovering from another long day of traveling and training.

"We need a name don't we? For our new 'village', I mean." Suigetsu asked suddenly in the companionable silence. They only just finished eating and half of them were almost asleep.

"You're right…hmm, do you guys have any ideas?" Naruto asked the other eight of the group.

"Well, we are seeking peace, right? How about 'Heiwakokka'? A Peace-loving nation?" Said Karin.

"Maybe, but we're not really seeking peace right now, considering that trying to take down a government isn't really peaceful." Karin pouted when Konan shot down her suggestion.

"Hanto, then? We are rebelling, after all." Naruto suggested.

"That doesn't really sound like the name of an organization, though, Dobe." Sasuke said.

"And Team Hawk does, _Teme_?" Naruto replied, sticking his tongue out at the younger Uchiha of the group. Sasuke smirked, but didn't answer him.

"Nigasu?" Itachi said suddenly. Everyone looked at him, pondering the name.

"I like it." Deidara seconded, not moving his head from Itachi's lap, or the fingers running through his hair.

"'Choice'. It's fitting." Juugo added.

"So we're Nigasugakure? The Village Hidden in the Choice?" Naruto smiled at the name. It was fitting for what their group stood for. They would be the alternative choice for anyone who needed something to stand for, but who didn't agree with the already existing powers.

One by one, the ninja around the fire nodded. Most of them had never thought they would be more than missing-nin for the rest of their lives, but now they had something to live for. Something to believe in and fight for.

A choice.


	23. Choice in the Sand

**23**

They had to be careful making their way to Suna. The newly named Nigasu group had to pass though both the Fire and River countries to get there and, unfortunately, both countries had it out for them. They mainly relied on Itachi and Deidara to lead them through the River country, which had been taken over recently as a base for Akatsuki, but Naruto knew the Fire country even better than Itachi, having travelled it for so long with Jiraiya. They stayed off trails and away from villages, rotating their travelling schedules every other day. They would train in the mornings and early afternoons, sleep, and then travel at night. The next day, they would rotate the schedule. Doing this, Itachi had explained, would shake any ANBU that might be following them off their trail. But they got through without incident.

So, finally, three weeks of slow travel from the Land of Waves found them at the border between Kawa no Kuni, the River Country, and Kaze no Kuni, the Wind Country.

"The border begins there." Itachi said, pointing at the many tags that were stuck to trees not ten feet from where they were standing, outlining, in rather elegant kanji, that the land that followed belonged, in no uncertain terms, to the wind country.

"Alright. Let me go through first. If I know Gaara, he'll know I'm here right off, but if he senses you guys first, he might send some guys to attack us."

Suigetsu raised an eyebrow and then bowed, flourishing his hand out in front of him in a mocking gesture to move forward. Naruto did, but as he passed Suigetsu, he pushed the man's head downwards and he fell face first to the ground as his own weight threw him off balance. The others rolled their eyes and shook their heads at their antics. Naruto and Suigetsu had long since become friends, even beyond the bonds of camaraderie that their team had to have, but they never ceased to mess with each other. Sasuke followed closely behind Naruto, and, as Suigetsu started to get up and rub his head, Sasuke cuffed the man's ear as if berating a child. One could see the resemblance of that comparison as Suigetsu stared up at Sasuke as if the Uchiha had broken his favorite kunai.

"Stop acting like an idiot." The younger Uchiha said without pausing or showing any pity.

Suigetsu pouted. "That's not fair. They're ganging up on me."

Konan laughed. "They've been ganging up on you ever since we left Wave, if you hadn't noticed, Suigetsu."

"Yeah, dickless." Sai added unnecessarily. Suigetsu glared at him.

"Don't even start with me, Sai. The last time we fought I beat your ass!" He said.

"That was only because it was a spar. I was holding back on you."

"You-!"

"A'right, a'right! Calm down you two. You're ruinin' the mood." Deidara interjected from beside Itachi, whose eyebrow was raised.

Karin turned to look at the blond. "I don't even want you to elaborate on that statement, Dei-chan."

"If I didn't know better, I would say you were _all_ children, not a band of dangerous rogue ninja intent on taking down any and all corrupt ninja governments." Itachi deadpanned. Suigetsu snorted at his wordiness.

"I'd have to agree with my brother." Sasuke said from just beside the border. "Come on. Let's go ahead and get this over with."

"Are you guys done yet?" Naruto asked. He was already a few steps beyond the border. The other ninja tensed and waited, but after a minute of silence, everyone on the River Country side of the border began to unclench their muscles. Of course, that was when Gaara appeared.

The wind picked up for a moment, and then a cloud of sand swirled down from the sky to a spot not far from where Naruto stood. It whirled quickly then dispersed into a stream that disappeared into the Kazekage's gourd. The red haired man's eyes surveyed the scene before him without any particular emotion, then he stepped forward to stand in front of Naruto. He clasped the blond's shoulder and Naruto reciprocated the gesture.

"I'm glad you came, Naruto; I was beginning to worry. I see you've found Uchiha as well." Gaara smiled slightly. "Well? What have you decided?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Of course. _You_ would be the one to believe I was up to something, you sneaky bastard."

Having already witnessed Naruto interact with Gaara before, none of Naruto's companions feared for his life, but they weren't surprised when sand appeared from nowhere and dumped itself onto Naruto's head. The blond spat and sputtered as he dug himself out from under it. As he did, he threw some of it back at Gaara, but the sand just veered from its course to return into Naruto's face. Naruto growled and was about to throw some more sand, but Sasuke stepped up behind him and cuffed his ear. It seemed that this was Sasuke's new favorite target.

"Quit it, dobe. What kind of idiot are you to throw sand at someone who uses sand as a weapon?" Naruto pouted.

"Gaara started it."

Gaara smirked. "Shall we move this to Suna? I asked Temari to prepare rooms for you before I came." They all nodded and, not a moment later, they were on their way to Suna atop a cloud of sand.

**xXx**

"So, who are your targets?" Gaara asked after Itachi explained their plans. None of the others could explain it well enough or with enough detail.

"Well, we're planning on going after the remainders of Akatsuki and the elders of Konoha. Danzou too, of course. But we don't have any other specific targets. And…I don't really know what to do about Tsunade." Naruto said, adding the last bit hesitantly.

They were all situated on top of the Kazekage's tower, not wanting to be inside when the weather was being so forgiving. The rogue ninja were sitting in a circle around a pile of food on a blanket Gaara had ordered to be brought out. The aura of the picnic meal severely off-set their topic of conversation.

"After you left, Tsunade was in the worst of moods. She wouldn't accept any visitors. She wouldn't even speak to me. Somehow…I don't think she did what she did by choice." Gaara said certainly.

"But she still did it. Regardless of why she did it, she would have had the choice to tell me what was going on. If she was trying to protect me, or even if she was trying to protect the village, she had that option. But she was going to let me bring Sasuke back to the village so she could have him killed! And she was going to make Itachi into a tool for breeding! I can't accept that." Naruto said quietly, uncharacteristic of his old energetic temperament.

The rest of the group said nothing as Naruto sat silently, brooding. Gaara cast a quick glance over them then stood smoothly. He held a hand out to Naruto who was looking up at him.

"Come. We need to talk privately."

"Now hold on-!" Suigetsu started.

"No. It's none of our business." Sasuke interjected. Gaara met his eyes and nodded his appreciation. Naruto looked around at them and half-heartedly smiled before taking a hold of Gaara's hand and bringing himself to his feet.

"We'll be back in a bit. Eat your fill while I'm gone. We should probably only stay for the night then leave tomorrow." The blond said before he and Gaara walked through the door that led down into the tower.

A few minutes later found Naruto in Gaara's office, sitting with the redhead on the couch, both of them leaning against the arms of it, facing each other. Gaara's right hand steadied his gourd against the side of the couch while his left fiddled idly with the cloth of his pants. Naruto focused his eyes on his lap, not looking forward to venting his emotions. But he trusted his friend enough that, if he wanted to try to help, he would let him.

"What are you so worried about?" The redhead prompted without preamble.

Naruto sighed, knowing that Gaara wouldn't push for answers if he wasn't willing to give them, but that he was worried for him all the same. "I guess it's just that…I feel almost…lost. I don't know why I'm doing this...trying to make a change. I agree with the idea, sure, but I've only ever tried to fit in, to blend in with everyone. No, that's not right. It's more like I…wanted to be accepted by them."

"Who is _them_?" Gaara pressed, but Naruto only shrugged offhandedly.

"The village, I guess."

"Why?" Gaara asked. "Naruto, you've never _been_ like them. Why would you even _try_ to be like them, to limit yourself like that?" Gaara seemed confused. Naruto wasn't sure why until the realization popped into his mind.

"Gaara…I didn't know I was a Jinchuuriki until I became a Genin. I was twelve when I found out." Gaara's eyes widened in surprise.

"You said…you wanted to be accepted." Gaara said slowly, realization finally dawning in his eyes. "Kami…you didn't even know why they…" Naruto winced as he remembered what Gaara had said he'd gone through as a Jinchuuriki in his village. He knew the man must have been thinking of what it would be like to be treated like that…without even knowing why the insults and names and fists were thrown at him. For the first time, Naruto could see emotions on Gaara's face, not held back by the blank, stoic expression it usually held. Horror was the first and foremost. Disgust closely followed.

"Those bastards!" Gaara's anger almost amused Naruto, who had long since given up on the anger that the villagers had instilled in him.

"That's why I was so upset about Tsunade, I think. It always felt like the village had betrayed me, by, well, doing what they did…" Naruto trailed off, not wanting to give Gaara a sob story or something along those lines. "I guess it felt like she'd finally turned to the other side."

"But what about your senseis? Your friends? I know a few of them, like that Rock Lee and Nara… They would gladly risk their lives to save you now." Gaara said, waving his left hand slightly, trying to understand his friend but not quite managing it. Naruto saw the attempt for what it was and was grateful for it.

He smiled slightly, but when he spoke, it was with a bitter voice.

"You're right, they would. _Now. _But, until I proved to them that I was an equal, until I worked my _ass _off to show them that I wasn't as useless as some idiot villager, none of them cared to see _me_. And now they assume I'm some genius. That I'm this happy-go-lucky fool who can pull a miracle out of his-" Naruto broke off as his temper suddenly rose and, taking a few breaths, he calmed himself. "Well, it doesn't really matter anyway. They still assume I'm a happy fool all the time. I'm surrounded by geniuses all the time and I barely have a moment to catch my breath before I'm left behind again."

"Naruto…You're stronger than any of them." Gaara said. When Naruto looked up, he was surprised to see Gaara meet his eyes with an incredibly sincere expression on his face. "You always_ have_ been."

Naruto smiled somewhat, a simple quirk of his lip, and sighed. "Even if that were true Gaara… I guess…I- I don't know what I…Grrr…" He ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated at the lack of words to describe his feelings.

"I think…I guess I just hate being…no, I hate wearing this mask!" Naruto suddenly nodded in certainty that that was what was bothering him. He continued his line of thought, suddenly excited to realize that was why he'd always felt just a little bit of loneliness, even with all his friends surrounding him. He wasn't even sure if he was actually talking to Gaara anymore. It was more like he was simply speaking his thoughts into the air, relieving his tiring heart of the burden they gave him.

"Yeah, sure, they're my friends. But they don't know me. Even Sasuke. He still doesn't know anything about me beyond when we first met in the academy or after he left Konoha, but he's the person that knows me best besides you and Kyuu. None of my friends or teachers ever stepped in to stop the glares or rumors that were thrown at me every day. They didn't even notice it. It's like I didn't really exist until I shoved a foot in the damn door and proved I was there! And it wasn't even _that_ simple! Even though I tried my best to pull their attention to me every single day I went to the academy, the best I got was the title of class clown."

"They didn't _know_ you." Gaara said carefully. The blond studied his lap and his clenching hands, trying in vain to calm himself.

"But that's the problem. They didn't even try." Naruto sighed. "I can't tell you how happy I was when I realize my friends wouldn't abandon me when they learned that I was a Jinchuuriki. But they still just saw the 'me' that I had created." Naruto suddenly clenched his fists again. "I hate it! I was trying to protect myself, but once I put it on, I couldn't take the mask back off. At the Chuunin exams…That was the first time I really felt alive; when I was fighting you. But if…if I had taken it off in front of anyone who knew me, they would have thought I was some imposter or something, because they wouldn't have recognized me."

"But maybe they might have." Gaara stopped Naruto from continuing his rant. Naruto's head snapped up and their eyes met for barely a second before he was back to staring at his lap. Gaara could see an ironic quirk to his lips.

"Yeah. Yeah, I suppose they might have. At least, Sasuke has. And the rest of our new _team_."

Gaara sighed and shifted, laying his gourd on its side, parallel to the couch. He uncrossed his legs and let one dangle off the side of the couch as he leaned forward to try and catch Naruto's expression. Naruto only leaned back against the arm of the couch, his head still tilted downward.

"I've seen how you act around your friends, Naruto. Sometimes, you act like they will abandon you at any moment. Why?" Gaara pressed, worried about Naruto. He'd always been able to see the more aggressive side of the man. The more serious side. And sadly, the more broken side, too.

"Because sometimes I'm afraid they'll turn on me. That they'll return to their senses and forget about me all over again. No." Naruto shook his head as Gaara began to say something. "I know it's a stupid thing to believe. It's just that there's this little kid inside me, crying. Wondering why he was pushed away for all those years and then suddenly accepted."

**xXx**

Gaara was surprised that the normally emotional Naruto had yet to break down crying. He knew, just from that, admitting what must have been one of his deepest fears with such a steady voice, that Naruto had been thinking about this subject for a long time. And then he wondered if Naruto and the Kyuubi had ever talked about it. But then, considering how much Shukaku had always intruded on his thoughts, he supposed they must have. At least some of it.

He didn't have to prompt Naruto to continue.

"I acted stupid and played the fool for years after I was finally able to understand why the villagers called me what they called me. There was something wrong with me. Something that was horribly terrifying. Because I was a little kid then, I thought of it in innocent terms. I figured that, if they thought I was no threat, they wouldn't be afraid of me. That way, if they weren't afraid of me, they wouldn't hate me, and they wouldn't hurt me."

Gaara's eyes widened. He'd known that Naruto had been mistreated. It was inevitable for any Jinchuuriki. But he hadn't known he'd been hurt. And he could tell Naruto wasn't speaking of a simple matter of his feelings getting hurt. Even he himself, the target of many assassination attempts, had never been beaten, although, with his sand, not many ever had the chance.

Naruto frowned. "I wanted to prove to them that, if they only acknowledged me, I would protect them in return. That I _would_!" Tears finally started trailing down Naruto's cheeks. Gaara, not sure entirely of what to do, moved closer and pulled Naruto into a hug. Naruto practically latched onto him.

"You are too good for them, Naruto." Gaara said with a rare soft smile.

"I don't know why I want to help anybody. But… I guess I still do. For others like…us." Gaara shifted but didn't deny the classification. Naruto sat back again, the only signs of his tears being the pair of glistening tear tracks leading down his cheeks. He rubbed them away with the back of his hand and sighed.

"Since Tsunade said she'd name me a missing-nin if I was seen with Sasuke, there is no chance that they'll see me as anything other than something to be hated, now." Naruto said, without any particular inflection. He didn't sound upset or as if he were withdrawing from the conversation, but rather like he had accepted the fact. Gaara felt his heart clench. He followed the blond's reasoning and factored in his attitude while stating the fact. He was almost sure he knew what was bothering the man now.

"You've given up on your dream of being Hokage?"

"Yeah. I suppose I have." Naruto said quietly, staring at his hands.

"Well, then. You have you're reasoning for going along with this 'Nigasugakure' plan."

Naruto blinked at the sudden jump in the conversation. But he thought about it and seemed to come to the same conclusion as Gaara had. He'd planned to make a difference as hokage. Doing this, he could make a difference, too. Maybe even a bigger one.

"I suppose so." He smiled blearily.

Gaara sighed.

"These people you're travelling with. They trust you. They believe that what they are doing by following you is a good thing. They know what you are and they haven't turned away from you. Your senseis and friends trust you. You have allies. _Now. _Don't focus on the past. It's not important anymore. You still have enemies, people who hate you, but you can live through it. Not to mention, of course," Gaara straightened his clothes and stood regally. "If anyone makes you cry again, I can think of quite a few people who would kill them for it. Myself included."

Naruto smiled. Gaara was happy to see that it reached the blond's eyes this time.

"One more thing, Naruto."

"Yeah, Gaara?"

"You're not a demon. You're not a monster. There isn't a single thing wrong with you."

Naruto almost looked confused. "I-"

"You may be merged with the Kyuubi, but that does _not_ mean that you are a demon. You are still you."

Naruto looked down at his lap once more and finally, he nodded.

"Thank you for this."

"I'm only doing what you've done for me." Gaara clapped a hand to Naruto's shoulder and could practically feel the gratitude rolling off of the blond. He wondered if he had been the only person to see the obvious. He wondered if anyone else had ever wondered how someone could be so cheery all the time. He wondered, finally, if he was the only one who could ever really understand him.

Gaara was after all, probably the least abused Jinchuuriki after Naruto and the container of the Hachibi, Killer Bee. Even without the threat of assassins hanging over him, Naruto was estranged from his village from a very young age, but at the same time, he was bound close to them to keep him from leaving, made dependent on them. And giving him the idea that he was a monster all that time?

He'd always been of the opinion that mental abuse was more torturous than physical abuse could ever be. Gaara had shut his mind away from all the harsh insults and names that his villagers had called him because he knew exactly why they were afraid of him. He knew that he was powerful enough to retaliate, and that he could kill any one of them, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Not as a child and not now.

But Naruto had never had even _that_ comforting knowledge. It was almost enough to make Gaara hate Konoha.

And, looking at the kind man standing before him who had saved him from himself all those years ago, it was enough to make that hate lessen just a bit. For giving him such a friend, he could never be more grateful.

**xXx**

The next morning found Naruto and Gaara not far into the village from the main gate.

"So you're in for sure, Gaara? You'll support Nigasu in the war?" Naruto asked one last time before they left Sunagakure. They were heading to the Village hidden in the Cloud and the rest of the group was already at the gates, waiting for Naruto.

"Yes, I will. Granted, I cannot make any open movements because our relations with Konoha are still fairly tense. I do not want to openly break the truce; Suna can't afford it. I _will_ give your team anything you need that is within my power, though."

"I understand."

"Another thing, Naruto. While you're travelling around, I want you to check something out for me." Gaara said. "I've been waiting for the right time to mention this."

"Yeah? Anything, Gaara." Naruto was curious. If Gaara had been waiting for a right time to bring it up, that meant it was probably something important. The redhead looked slightly uncomfortable.

"Before Akatsuki took Shukaku completely from me, he managed to talk to me one last time. He told me that there was something wrong. At that time, it was rumored that Akatsuki had six of the tailed-beasts already, but Shukaku said that he only felt five of them, that one was missing."  
"What?" Naruto said, his eyes widening. "You mean there might be one more tailed-beast somewhere out there?"

Gaara nodded.

"But wouldn't they realize it if they hadn't caught one of them? Besides me and the eight-tails, I mean."

"I would think so, yes. But I don't think they had it in the first place."

"Then why would information saying that they'd caught all but two Bijuu be going around?"

"Maybe it was just a rumor to draw that particular Bijuu out. But all I can say is that Shukaku couldn't sense a sixth Bijuu."

"Did he say which one was missing?"

"No, he didn't." Gaara stared into Suna, at all the merchants' stalls and villager's houses. His village.

"Gaara. I'll find it. I'll keep Akatsuki from hurting anyone with it."

"Good. But, you might want watch for a human host as well. The villages don't exactly broadcast it when they gain a tailed-beast, but Cloud, Rock, Mist, Leaf and Waterfall are the only villages known to have succeeded before. And I doubt any of our enemies would keep it hidden if they had captured one."

Kyuubi shifted in his mind excitedly. She was glad to hear that one of her brethren was still alive, even though she did not always get along with her fellow Bijuu. _**They weren't in the places we've been since we merged. I would have sensed it if they'd been near where we were, or at least their residual energy.**_ Naruto was surprised. He hadn't heard that Kyuubi had had the ability to do that. But he'd ask her later.

"I doubt it's in Leaf or Mist. Kyuubi says she would have sensed them if that were the case."

"Then Tsuchi, Kumo, or Waterfall would be the most likely, since it's obviously not here or in the River Country either."

"It's good we're on our way to the Lightening Country then, isn't it? We can check out Waterfall on our way there and a little bit of Tsuchi, too."

"You know you can't go through Ame or Kusa." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, we'll probably go through Ishi and then up through the Earth Country into Taki to get to the Waterfall village and then go east towards the Lightening Country to find the Hachibi. We'll just check Ishi on our way to make sure it's not there either."

"That's good."

"Everything will be better when we take down Akatsuki and the elders of Konoha and Danzou, Gaara. Then we won't have to worry about any of this."

Gaara nodded his head and He and Naruto clasped their hands to each other's' forearms.

"I'll come back soon?"

Gaara glared at him. Naruto smiled.

"Uh, yeah. I mean, I'll come back soon!"


	24. Travels

**24**

"If the other Jinchuuriki, or Bijuu for the matter, isn't anywhere we haven't already been, I have no idea where it is." Naruto sighed as they began to make camp along the south-eastern border of Takigakure's Hidden Waterfall village. Sasuke and Naruto hadn't led everyone into the village only for the fact that they had promised during that mission so long ago that they wouldn't, but just being in the vicinity had allowed Naruto to check for the missing Bijuu's presence. They'd already travelled through nearly every country between Wind and Rock and there was still no sign of the tailed-beast Gaara had spoken of.

A week ago, they'd stopped at an Uchiha hideout just outside of Taki before checking out the Waterfall Village, and they'd found an extravagantly supplied mansion that was tended by a clan of ninja felines. They'd all managed to find clothes and weapons to replace the ones they'd worn out, although Juugo had to get his clothes specially tailored, and they'd been out by the next day. The Uchiha brothers had assured the rest of the Nigasu group that their clan held at least one such hideout in every country in the continent, and even some off of it. Handy for a bunch of wanted ninja.

Konan had wondered aloud one day whether Konoha would begin seizing their property, and Itachi had explained that any and all Uchiha estates, or at least the land for them, had been legally claimed before the founding of Konoha, which put them out of reach of Konoha's governmental reach. This had reassured them all. But now, they were all well out of Taki and finally on their straightaway route, along the edge of the Fire Country around the Rice Country and through two other somewhat negligible countries to Kumo in the Lightening Country.

"Maybe it's moving as we are?" Konan asked.

"Maybe, but Kyuu's told me that she would be able to sense a Jinchuuriki or Bijuu's presence within the limits of about a month, because they leave such a strong presence and signature behind that it lasts for a long time. Although since Kyuu is the strongest Bijuu in terms of chakra, only she can sense the signatures. If they were moving ahead of us and we were just missing them…"

"Kyuubi would still be able to sense its presence." Itachi completed as he materialized from the dark of the woods around them and joined them, sitting down next to Deidara.

Naruto nodded.

"Then the Bijuu is either not in any of these countries or it's way ahead of us. How far do Kyuubi's senses stretch?"

"Well, really, since it only applies to the tailed-beasts…" Naruto paused, searching for a reference point he could use to explain. "Ah, well, right now, Kyuu can feel Killer Bee's chakra."

Karin whistled. "Assuming he's in his village, he's still at least a hundred miles away!"

"So there's no way that a tailed beast has been anywhere near where we've gone in the past month." Sasuke clarified.

"Right. Whoever or whatever it is must be in the southern countries or in the outskirts of the Fire, Wind, or Earth countries, because they are each well over the size of a hundred miles wide." Naruto said.

"Most likely." Suigetsu chimed in unnecessarily.

"Well, we should be able to get to Kumo if we hurry tomorrow. We can consider the trip to be stealth endurance training. And Sasuke and Naruto can practice their Hiraishin technique." Itachi said, looking down at Deidara who had fallen asleep the moment his head touched Itachi's lap.

"That sounds good." Sai said, nodding his head from his perch on a tree limb high above their heads.

"I think you're messed up in the head." Suigetsu shot at the ex-ROOT member. "No one could possibly enjoy Itachi's training- OW! - um, no offense Itachi!" Suigetsu gulped as he turned eyes to the man. Karin had kicked him in the leg to remind him of his loudmouth tendencies and he cowered. Itachi didn't say anything, merely basking in amusement.

The group had grown even closer than they imagined they could in the time they had left Gaara and the Wind Country. With the training they were doing daily, they got to know each other's tactics and personalities through their personal techniques and even through their weaknesses. And even when they weren't training, they swapped stories during their travels and when they readied themselves to eat and sleep.

A most extraordinary example was how outgoing Itachi had become after gaining Sasuke's forgiveness and being around Deidara. Itachi no longer gave off the feeling that he was unapproachable. And though he could still manage to make Naruto and Sasuke cry mercy in a spar, who he had easily admitted were stronger than him (Power-wise, at least), he made them laugh just as often.

Everyone in the group wondered when Karin and Suigetsu planned on opening up about their relationship, considering it was now more than obvious to everyone. But they still hadn't said anything and were acting like the times when they went off together to 'scout' were anything besides make-out sessions.

And everyone had long-since traded the stories of how they had become rogue ninja, minus all the anger, or bitterness, that had accompanied the circumstances. Even Naruto had finally elaborated to Sasuke exactly what had happened after he had been taken in by Orochimaru. And Sasuke had told everyone about his own dramatic exit from Konoha, even going so far as to boast about his victory over Naruto at the Valley of the End, which even Itachi and Sai hadn't heard about.

There hadn't been a single word uttered in bitterness.

All had been forgiven and Nigasugakure had become a family. But they were still a little shaky on the details of what exactly it was they were doing. And their plans for the long-term. Creating a new village wasn't simple, after all.

"So we'll meet Killer Bee tomorrow. Then what?" Naruto asked, directing the question to the entire group.

"We'll need to start gathering allies." Juugo said, stirring something in a pot that he'd pulled out of a storage scroll, something Itachi had shown them all the wonders of long ago. The roll of paper could hold the contents of a small house and not weigh any more than its original weight. After the stop at the Uchiha hideout, they each carried one.

"Yes, and we'll still have to find the tailed-beast." Sasuke added.

"For specifics, I think we'll have to wait until we reach Kumo." Karin threw out, looking at Itachi for his opinion.

As the most experienced of the group, albeit not oldest (Konan, unsurprisingly, took that title, being 35), the elder Uchiha had become something of a strategical consultant for Nigasu's actions. In addition to that, thanks to the discovery of Karin's healing abilities, he had been steadily regaining his full sight and previous strength, so he had also become the team's primary 'trainer'. Along their travels, Sasuke had had the idea that, although conventional healing methods had not been successful, something different, like Karin's Heal-Bite ability, which dealt with chakra directly, could possibly work. When Itachi took the suggestion at Karin's enthusiasm for the idea, he'd immediately reported that he could see better than before. From then on, Karin had prescribed weekly doses of her Heal-Bite.

Itachi regarded the group as he thought. "I think so as well. We really can't do much until we can talk to Killer Bee."

"Maybe if he agrees to our proposal, we can go see my parent's house before we go search further south?" Naruto suggested hesitantly.

"I'd like to go see it too, actually. Maybe we can find out more about some of your father and mother's jutsu. Or even something about Madara." Sasuke added, giving some reason to the argument. It was dangerous for them to go back near Konoha, after all.

"…I agree with you on that, Sasuke. Namikaze might have found something about him. And, if we're lucky, we can use the place as a base. He might have put a blood seal around it so that only Naruto could get in. That would make it one of the safer places for us to be, actually, like the Uchiha estates." Itachi said thoughtfully.

"Food's ready." Juugo called to the group, effectively ending the conversation.

**xXx**

"Killer Bee's on the move!" Naruto announced after suddenly stopping and startling everyone of the group into battle stances. They decided to take a quick break after Naruto assured them that there were no enemies coming to attack them. Naruto told them about what he'd sensed. "He's going straight towards Konoha and he's moving really fast."

"If Killer Bee is heading directly to Konoha, then he will be passing within twenty miles of us." Juugo said slowly.

"Right. He's moving extremely fast and his chakra isn't agitated, so I don't think he's being chased or attacked. But maybe he's just in a hurry. And why would he be going to Konoha?" He directed the question to Itachi.

"How far is he to Konoha?" Itachi asked instead of answering right away, as the others had quickly discovered was his habit. "And when did he start moving?"

"He's seems to already be near the Lightening Country's border and he only started moving a few seconds ago but-" Naruto paused. "Yeah, he must have the same abilities Gaara does, to be able to move his body through his country's element, supposedly Lightening if the speed was any clue, or maybe something else. He just slowed down drastically. He must have passed out of his own country and into the Frost Country, but he's still moving fast.

"Well, Bee isn't the Kage of his country, so I can't be sure, but he could be going in his brother's, the Kage's, place to take part in the Chuunin exams, since they start within the week."

"What?" Sasuke asked, surprised.

"Why would Tsunade host the exams when Konoha was in such a bad state?" Konan asked.

"My guess is to show that Konoha can fend for itself." Sai answered.

"Yes. Akatsuki received word of Tsunade's request to host the exams a few months ago and had planned to infiltrate them. I assume that she has not given up on her plans, even with the threat another attack would pose on the stability of the village." Itachi said.

"Well then. That solves our issue of what to do after we meet with Killer Bee." Naruto said, standing and putting his fists on his hips.

"It does, doesn't it?" Deidara said sarcastically, having grasped Naruto's line of thinking.

"Would someone care to translate from the blond-speak? I'm confused." Suigetsu said. Naruto looked at him amusedly.

"You're always confused." Karin said dryly.

"We can go to Konoha, talk to Killer Bee, stop Akatsuki- assuming they haven't changed their plans-, search for the missing Bijuu, go to my father's house, and me and Sasuke can finally earn the rank of Chuunin in name, at long last!" Naruto said, dramatizing the last bit. The rest of the group - who realized exactly how irritating it was to be more powerful than a Jounin but classified as a Genin - laughed, but accepted it as a good enough reason to add to the list.

"Geez, speaking of birds and stones, that's five nice little pheasants we're gonna have for dinner, ain't it!" Deidara giggled.

"Well, what do the rest of you think?" Naruto asked.

They all agreed. There was a feeling going around, though, that they would need to be on their heaviest guard in Konoha.

**xXx**

"I don't need to tell you all what to do. We'll scatter once we reach the gates. Once Naruto finds Kakashi and moves towards the meeting spot, he'll signal us with some of his clones. Meet at the south end of the Forest of Death." Itachi informed the rest of Nigasu. "Remember: Don't approach Bee if you see him. We'll deal with him later. For now, we need to find Naruto's home and make sure we can get into it. Otherwise we'll be keeping up our guises for quite a bit longer than we need to."

Everyone chimed in with a sloppy affirmative (well, all except Sai, who nearly snapped off a salute before settling with a strong 'understood!'). Itachi nodded and the group slowly dispersed into the crowd that made their way into Konoha to observe the Chuunin exams that were due to begin the next day.

It was always a tense affair for ninjas to go through the intense screening of a village (even if it was their own village) that had recently had an attack, even just the common enough assassination attempts. However, with the way Konoha had been attacked, twice consecutively (one of which had even happened during such a time as this, when the Chuunin exams were up and running), the security was nerve-wracking.

But Nigasu wasn't worried in the slightest. They had a tried and proven method of getting through security without incident.

Naruto.

The moment they stepped just beyond the boundaries of Konoha, Naruto had worked his Kekkei Genkai over them. In the process of his training, Naruto had already mastered three techniques by trial and error, and the help of Kyuu, who could somewhat sense the abilities his bloodline limit held. One of these was the ability to create something similar to a genjutsu and use it to veil not only his, but also other people's chakra and presence. Even someone who had known him and his chakra and bearing for years would never be able to tell it was him. He didn't even have to consciously change his bearing or voice; to someone else, he was simply not Naruto, even in mannerism.

The reason it could only be likened to the art of illusion, however, was because this technique could not be penetrated, period.

Nigasu had already tested this technique a few times under duress, such as when an uncommonly large party of hunter-nin had found and questioned them at one point during their travels. Naruto had only barely had time to cloak them in hopes of avoiding a fight that would undoubtedly leave the hunter-nin dead, and, even though the group had included a Byakugan user, Nigasu had been able to pull off the guise of a small travelling circus just starting off in their career. (The size of Juugo, and the odd assortment of hair colors, which Naruto had let be, had certainly helped their story.) Suigetsu had even been able to pull off the trick of swallowing a knife, which had caused a few raised eyebrows after the hunter-nin had left.

Another good thing about this technique was that, at his will, the people cloaked in this technique could be seen differently by each person who saw them- not drastically, but enough so that they couldn't be singled out of a crowd by someone who was looking for them. And, in addition to that, anyone cloaked in the technique could see the true visage of another person cloaked in the same technique. That was particularly helpful when the group was pulling off a large-scale reconnaissance mission, which they had done in the Earth Country when they'd gone just beyond its borders and into a rather large town to gather information.

In short, Naruto's Kekkei Genkai was invaluable. It led to a truly effective method of stealth and information gathering. In each village they passed, they spent maybe an hour or so separately listening at each of the taverns and central squares for news of the war. It had gained them a fairly accurate understanding of the standing of the different villages. Consequently, they knew that all the villages save Madara and Orochimaru's were to be attending the Chuunin exams, though any of those villages could have ties with either of the two traitors. Consequently, they knew that there would be far too many Genin teams to screen accurately this year.

Once they came inside the walls of Konoha and past the mix of ANBU and Jounin doing checks for suspicious chakras, they all set off towards their various destinations. With Juugo and Sai as a group, Sasuke, Itachi, and Deidara as another, Konan, Suigetsu, and Karin in yet another, and Naruto by himself, they went after their targets. Naruto pointed them all in the right directions. Konan's group took off to find Jiraiya, Sasuke's to find Gaara, and Sai's to find Iruka. Naruto set off at a slow pace to where Kakashi's chakra signature was.

Sadly enough, the man was at the Memorial Stone.


	25. More Plans and Chuunin Exams

**25**

_*Just after Sasuke's escape*_

"I left you in charge of him, _snake_." There was a deadly tone in the words that even a deaf man could hear. The onlookers, mostly unimportant members of Akatsuki and Orochimaru's and Madara's gathered militia, shivered in wary anticipation. For once, they would not be the target of their leader's ire. "What reason did you think was important enough that you could disobey my direct order for even a moment?"

"Madara-sama, I-" came the stuttered reply.

"What reason can you give me not to burn you to cinders?" There was a pause this time, long enough that the so-called snake assumed it was his turn to grovel and scrape at the ground.

"Ma-Madara-sama! I received information of a traitor in our midst-"

"Something that is woefully obvious, seeing as our usual blond-haired oddity isn't around anymore." Madara said scathingly. There was another pause, as if the other seemed to debate whether it was worth it to attempt speaking again. But speak he did.

"I went to investigate. I was only gone for a short while, but then I received word that the two guards I had posted at the Uchiha's door had been killed when they didn't report in as per usual. I pursued them, but I couldn't track them before their trail disappeared."

"And what condition did you leave Sasuke in that he, injured, along with Deidara, could outrun one of the Sannin?" Madara spat out.

The eldest living Uchiha turned from his spot in the middle of the amphitheater-like room to face Orochimaru, who was shamefully cowering in a scraping bow, trying to beg for his life. It seemed the man had forgotten how few people they had in their military force. Madara could not afford to lose any of his men, no matter how disgustingly gutless they were. But, then again, it was always a good thing for his lackeys to see powerful men bow at his feet.

"I had just….I had just had him healed an hour or two prior in preparation for another…session." Orochimaru said slowly.

Madara pinched the bridge of his nose, not necessarily showing his frustration as much as his irritation with the man in front of him. He let the Sannin wallow in the silence for a good minute and a half before speaking again.

"You will go and choose your five best men. Zetsu will tell you where we are meeting and when. We are continuing our plans to interrupt the Chuunin exams this year. Hopefully we will fare better than Suna and yourself did." He added the last bit as a hind thought and a warning while he swept out of the room and into the long, intersecting, confusing halls of Orochimaru's hideout.

"And hopefully Sasuke and Uzumaki will join us." He muttered to himself as he left.

**xXx**

The four people that were brought to the south end of the Forest of Death (by various methods of subterfuge to avoid any mention of Nigasugakure's members' names in the open), had been confused and wary, but the moment they came into contact with one another, they realized the culprit behind this meeting.

"So, which one of you is Naruto?" Kakashi finally asked the group of nine that had brought each of them there. One of them grinned before the air around each of them shimmered and whatever illusion had been in place dropped. Before them stood the same eight people who had left the village not long before with two additions. Kakashi's eye smiled when it hovered on Sasuke, but when it reached Deidara, it widened. His gaze darted to Naruto.

"As good as it is to see you, Naruto, and you, Sasuke, I am a bit confused at seeing another- although I'm sure former- member of Akatsuki in your group."

"Deidara rescued Sasuke from Orochimaru and Madara." Naruto grinned. Kakashi blinked and nodded, accepting the fact easily.

"So, what do you need us to do?" Iruka asked, not stupid enough to think the ninja around them had invited them for a social gathering.

"We need to find my father's house, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto started. "We have some things to do here, and it would be better if we didn't stay in the village. Plus, I really want to see it." Naruto grinned as he explained, looking to Kakashi expectantly, with a quick glance at Jiraiya as well. The two of them nodded, and seeing expectant glances from the rest of Naruto's group, took off to show them.

It was after only a few minutes of fast-paced running north of the village through the trees, that Naruto found himself looking at his ancestral home, a huge thing that barely hid among the giant trees of Konohagakure. It was not surprising, though, that no one had found the place in all of Konoha's recent history, as the few biography books on the Fourth Hokage had mentioned numerously. The place could only be seen by those allowed to see it, as demonstrated when Naruto, Jiraiya, and Kakashi stopped dead in place when the house appeared while the others kept on going.

After a few seconds of confusion, all was explained, and Naruto's group was quickly entering what could easily be considered a mansion. It seemed that, with the rightful owner's permission, anyone could see the building. The place was built in the classical Japanese style, with shoji screen doors and bamboo mats, among other things. The place was larger even than the ancestral Uchiha home in Konoha, with many rooms and many gardens. It was a grand setting, enough to make one wonder what standing Minato Namikaze had held, even before he had become the hokage.

It was indeed a grand setting, however, Naruto merely took a glance at everything and set off to find a suitable room to sit and plan. Everyone else followed him, giving him curious looks. His face was clear of emotion, but that was enough to tell the others that something had upset the blond. No one said anything, though, knowing that he would speak if he needed to. Sasuke just glared at his surroundings. And, strangely enough, so did Itachi.

It was a good thing that none of Naruto's former sensei or the Kazekage had no objections to helping them, even considering the fact that they were aiding and abetting known rogue ninja. Hours later, plans had been formed among Nigasu and their four allies. Iruka was to find a way to enter them into the Chuunin exams, whilst Jiraiya and Kakashi were to help them search for anything in Minato's manor that could be of aid to their new cause. Naruto had personally pled with Gaara to help them contact Killer Bee, and although the red-head looked displeased with the idea, it was clear he had no intention of refusing Naruto's request.

"Who'll infiltrate the exam? Judging from their expressions, I'd say Naruto and Sasuke want to go," Iruka said, noticing the smirks that had made their way onto their faces. "But who shall be the third, and the sensei? Not to mention the village you are coming from."

"That, I can handle. If you manage not to break your cover, I can vouch for you. You'll be ninja from one of my outlying villages, which could explain the lack of Suna jutsu." Iruka nodded in appreciation for the cover story.

"I will be their mentor." Konan said. "Too many people in Konoha know Itachi's mannerisms, and, as good as he is, he could let something slip unintentionally."

Itachi nodded in agreement. "I will be the third member of the team, instead. But, I must ask this." He directed at their allies. "Could we infiltrate a second team? It would be useful to have backup on the inside of this, in case Madara and his people are also in the exams. And they can also drop out at any time if need be."

Gaara thought for a long moment, then he nodded. "Yes, if we are careful. However I do not wish for there to be another incident such as the last one. Relations with Konoha are still tenuous, as I have already told you. You must be careful to not reveal yourselves."

Iruka watched as Nigasu mulled over the possibilities of the second team. "Who will be the sensei of this team? Have you thought on it?"

"Yes." Naruto said. "Sai, would you be up to it?"

Sai nodded immediately.

"How about we have two sensei for this team?" Kakashi asked. "The second sensei of a team often has more freedom to come and go during the exam. Since you have nine people, it would be good to have one person who can come and go as they please, and if an opportunity outside the exam arises, they could possibly take care of it."

"That's an interesting idea." Deidara said, nodding. "If I could be the second sensei, then we could allow Juugo, Karin, and Suigetsu to work together as they normally do.

Sasuke nodded. "Yes, they work better together, and Deidara is so irritating that no one would really miss him if he disappeared."

"Ah! You're such a mean Brother-in-Law!" Deidara cried, pouting. Iruka and Kakashi's eyebrows rose, while Gaara just stared. Jiraiya's eyes just brightened in amusement, and Naruto noted with a groan the familiar light of an idea for one of his books taking root in his mind. The rest of Nigasu just sighed, used to the antics of Deidara already.

"Then we're set." Naruto said to the room at large. "Nigasu will make its opening move a week from now, when the Chuunin exams begin."


	26. Same as Always

******Okay, so it's been over a year since I last updated this story, and I'm really sorry for that. But the good news is that, for the second time, I have completely edited the story and I am much happier with it now. Chapters 19 and 23 have especially changed, nearly doubling in length, because I just hated the way they turned out the first time around. For those of you who would like to go back and reread some of the chapter and tell me what you think, I'd be really grateful! ^.^**

**********Not to mention, of course, this is a new chapter for those of you who have waited forever. It's not all that great, but it's a start for the next bit of action to come. Now that I've finished my editing I should be able to update more often, but please know that I will never give up on any of my stories! **

**********That said, please enjoy the chapter!**

**26**

"We can hardly act like we know everything, Sasuke!" Naruto whined, barely holding back a grin at the look on Sasuke's face.

Naruto's team, made up of himself, Sasuke, and Itachi, were making their way through Konoha to the first part of the Chuunin exams. All three of them were disguised by Naruto's kekkei genkai, though they couldn't really tell how they appeared to others outside of the technique, or doujutsu, as the Uchihas had taken to calling it.

They'd changed their names, too, but Naruto had discovered a way to use his kekkei genkai to make people hear different names entirely when certain names were spoken aloud, so they could each use their real names aloud. He was still discovering the many facets of his abilities and wondered what other benefits his still-new eyes could possibly give him.

The town around them was only just beginning to wake up. Shop owners waved at them tiredly, and Naruto waved back somewhat jovially. The two Uchiha, however, seemed to want to crawl back into their beds; Naruto and the rest of Nigasu had long since learned that they were not morning people. He loved to mess with them for it, too. Itachi and Sasuke specifically hated it when he switched back to his loud, cheerful, exuberant personality, which had begun to become a rarity during their travels. "Too loud." they said.

At the moment, Naruto and Sasuke were arguing over how much skill they should allow to be seen in the midst of the fighting portions of the exams. Itachi was trying his best to ignore them, though he stuck close.

"Yes. We can. Remember how Gaara and his team came out of Anko's exam? Not a scratch on them, and the most that got them was a raised eyebrow. We won't be out of place at all." Sasuke said grouchily.

"Yes, but the proctors will be more careful now. Konoha just got attacked not too long ago, remember? What if they take us out of the exam? Not to mention, we can't just start using the Fourth's techniques and expect not to be singled out!"

"Well, that's obvious." Sasuke snorted. "We can just tone our techniques down a bit. Not to mention, it's not like I can use Chidori, or you the Rasengan. Your shadow clones are somewhat off limits, too, unless you can change your hand signs. But we can still use our elemental jutsu."

"We can't do too much of that either, can we? It's not like a lot of what we know is common knowledge to Genin."

"Actually, it is." Itachi interjected. The two of them looked at each other and then to the older Uchiha. He raised an eyebrow. "Konoha's ninja may have many innate talents, but other villages actually teach their Genin a lot of what Konoha only teaches their Chuunin and Jounin. Leaf focuses more on individual talents and fostering loyalty to the village when ninja are young, not advanced chakra techniques."

Sasuke raised a brow. "So Kakashi slacked off on the job. Not surprising."

Naruto laughed. "Well, that solves that, then. So we can use anything except the more recognizable techniques?"

"Basically, yes. And your tangible kekkei genkai techniques, such as the Mangekyou; although that would probably be overkill anyway. The good thing is that you can still use the more insubstantial techniques - like the beginning form of the Sharingan, Sasuke - because of Naruto's doujutsu. It can cover your eyes." Itachi looked a bit more awake now that he was plotting. Naruto smiled at the thought. He was also glad that Itachi hadn't completely lost the copied jutsu and reflexes his own Sharingan had given him in the past. With the people they were up against, they'd need every advantage they could get.

"It probably would have been better if we'd gone over what we can and can't use last night." Itachi continued, with a severe look at Naruto and Sasuke. "But you two had to go out and exhaust yourselves in training."

"It's not like you didn't go and tire yourself out with Deidara." Sasuke pointed out, barely managing to hold a straight face. Itachi didn't say anything. Naruto laughed and began to slow once he saw the building they had been directed to find. Outside of it, there were teams of Genin milling around, and some Jounin, who were probably sensei.

"Gaara said we have to meet on the second floor." Sasuke said. "They'll probably pull the same trick as last time, so we should probably go find Karin, Suigetsu, and Juugo. They can see a trap if they're ready for it, but not if it's subtle like that."

"I see them. Over there." Naruto pointed over to a corner near to one of the building's many entrances. The three of them stood out among the Genin, but they didn't attract any real attention from their surroundings because Naruto had cloaked them, too. To the other ninja in the area, they were just another team of kids trying to get to the rank of Chuunin, but Nigasu could see each other for who they really were. The reason they stood out, though, might have been because the three of them, and Naruto's team too, he realized, were being given a fairly wide berth. The Sand hitai-ate were probably the reason for that; he saw another team that actually was from Suna not too far away that was being given the same treatment.

As Naruto ran up the three and loudly attracted the attention of the general vicinity, Itachi and Sasuke followed slowly, scanning the crowd for anything out of place. Like their information had said, there were a great many teams, and there were probably even more inside the building. It was probably a result of recent and anticipated conflicts; everyone wanted to jump ranks as soon as they could.

"Sasuke! Itachi!" Naruto yelled. Itachi flinched, not yet used to being able to use real names when undercover. Sasuke just sighed and shook his head. Naruto only grinned at them. He knew exactly what he was doing to them, and he was enjoying it, too.

Karin, Suigetsu, and Juugo didn't look all that happy to be there. They were all leaning against the side of the building that the first exam would be held in, trying to look as menacing as possible to scare away curious Genin. It was working, of course, and both teams managed to make their way easily into the building once Sasuke and Itachi joined them.

True to Sasuke's prediction, the same trick had been used on the second floor, but this time it served to convince the unwary genin that they were on the third floor and would have to return to the previous floor to find the correct room. Either way, it worked fairly well. Most of the people who could see through the genjutsu just waited until those who couldn't left the floor and then entered the room, unwilling to have more competition than absolutely necessary.

It happened to be that the two Nigasu teams also chose to do this. Naruto was glad to see that they were among the first to arrive, with only a few other teams having beaten them there. Two of them were some older genin teams from Leaf, while the other four were a scattering of Sand, Rock, and Cloud. When the Nigasu teams entered the large, open room, all eighteen eyes turned to them, gauging their would-be opponents. Apparently, Naruto's jutsu led them to be very unimpressed, and they all turned back to their previous conversations.

Suigetsu scowled at Naruto.

"Why'd you have to go and make us look like weaklings, Naruto?" He asked.

"You know why, so don't bother arguing." Karin said before Naruto could irritate the water-user with a response. Itachi shook his head.

"We can't let them think our teams won't stick together if it comes to a fight. Don't start arguing now."

"Right." Suigetsu said sullenly. Naruto echoed him after a look from Itachi. Everyone could see the laughter dancing in his eyes.

The two teams found the last unoccupied corner of the room and Itachi put up a silencing jutsu. One ninja, not too far away from them, looked up immediately with narrowed eyes focused completely on them. He quickly turned back to his team and began speaking quietly to his team. At some point he jerked his head over at them and his teammates' eyes flickered in their direction. He was a member of the sole team from Cloud.

Of course, the Nigasu teams didn't let it be known that they knew they were the subjects of such attentions. After all, they weren't really genin, but they had to act like clueless little fools with some neat little tricks.

"We'll have to watch them." Juugo said. Sasuke nodded.

"Seems like." Naruto agreed. "But first, we need to talk about the first exam."

Sasuke interrupted with an amused glance-over at each of them. "Which, according to Itachi, we should have already done, instead of doing, well, whatever else we were all doing." The others laughed, though Suigetsu and Karin were blushing. Naruto and Sasuke had been training, so they didn't have to worry about being messed with, but it was interesting to note that Juugo's face had a rather nice blush, too.

"Oh shush, Sasuke, let Itachi be grumpy. That was the last of Deidara he'd see until tomorrow evening." Naruto said with a cheeky grin, ignoring the narrowed gaze that was directed at him. The rest of Nigasu shook their heads, knowing that Naruto would pay for that remark later in training.

"Anyway, as I was saying. If we're lucky it'll be the same as it was before. It's not likely, but if it does happen, we know what'll go down. When Sasuke and I took the exam before, it was just a paper exam designed to test how well you could covertly gather information from the people around you, or so I've been told." Naruto gave a self-deprecating smile to Sasuke, who chuckled.

"At the end," Sasuke said "The proctor asks one last question which determines if you pass or fail."

"Do I need to guess which route Naruto took?" Itachi asked dryly with a raised eyebrow. The group, including Naruto, laughed quietly.

"Right. Well. Either way, if they throw something new at us, we'll have to wing it either way." Naruto said.

"Well, they can't be all that imaginative, can they?" Suigetsu asked with a raised eyebrow. Karin scowled and lightly hit his shoulder.

"Don't jinx us! It's bad enough that we're already the enemies of every real country here but Sand!"

And so they spent the rest of the time determining which jutsu they had needed that to be put out of use for the duration of the exams and they also studied each of the teams that came through the doors. Finally, about thirty minutes later, as predicted, they were called into the testing room and directed into specific places all around the room, so that they were separated from their teammates.

Naruto thought that there might have been at least one hundred teams in the huge lecture hall even though there hadn't seemed to be that many when they'd all been standing around. That made for about three hundred ninja who might or might not be part of an infiltration squad from Madara or Orochimaru. Either way, the moment Morino Ibiki stepped into the room from a side door, projecting a rather menacing aura, the room quieted to a dull roar. When he spoke, all sound immediately disappeared.

"All right, brats. You all know why you're here. But, if you didn't, you're here to join the ranks of the real ninja." Naruto nearly rolled his eyes at the dramatization. "There are four parts to this exam, instead of the usual three. You brats got unlucky. There are almost three times the normal amount of applicants this year and we're going to have to go through you all with a fine tooth comb."

Ibiki paced the length of floor at the front of the room with his hands behind his back. "First, you will be taking my written exam. This is designed to test common knowledge questions. I suggest you keep your eyes off of your neighbor's papers or there will be very unpleasant consequences. Once you receive your paper and pencil, you may begin."

The instructions were briefer than last year, Naruto mused, and Ibiki hadn't tried to scare them, too much, this time. He mentally shrugged. The quicker they got through this, the quicker they could search the village for Madara's thugs.

He sat on the fifth row, behind Sasuke and Suigetsu, who were both in the second row, but he was in front of any of the others in Nigasu. By the time he received his paper, he saw that Sasuke was already writing and he thought he might have seen the shimmer of light reflecting off of water droplets at the pencil's tip and on the paper. Strange, wasn't it, that the paper didn't absorb the water?

Naruto grinned and turned his focus to his own paper. It took him more than a minute at least to start writing. And it wasn't because the questions were hard.

He stared in wonder at the paper in front of him. He couldn't believe that he knew any one of the answers, let alone every single one of them.

He'd always been better at practical application, even with all the books he'd read from the local library. All the technical words and complicated theory written on the pages had simply left his mind the moment he turned the page. Not to mention, he'd had a hard time paying attention to topics being taught in the classroom, always trying too hard to keep up his act and get the other students to like him as a child.

And, really, he hadn't thought he'd changed all that much since then, at least for the part about knowing theory. But all the same, he found himself steadily scribbling down the answers. He wondered how he knew them. He certainly couldn't ever remember reading about these sorts of questions in any book, but he didn't think his teachers had ever asked things like that either. Then again, it may have just come from experience he hadn't had when he had just become a genin.

A question that he couldn't have possibly answered without some sort of intricate math formula just came to him with easy reckoning. Where to throw a kunai from in this sort of situation to reach this result. When to trigger the trap with a shuriken when you were _X_ distance away from it and your target was moving southeast at _Y _speed.

He marveled at the simple_ knowing_ he felt when answering each of the nine questions quickly and easily. He nearly laughed in amazement. He wondered how he could never have known these answers as a genin, and, as he looked around at the clueless expressions around him, he wondered how they could not know it either.

He sat quietly when he finished and waited for the tenth question, which Ibiki had begun explaining five minutes into the exam. Naruto had ignored him, of course, already knowing what was going on, though he heard many loud objections to the idea that the tenth question would decide their fate, regardless of the other nine questions.

He saw that Sasuke was done, looking just as smug as Naruto felt, though he kept one hand over the neatly scribbled answers, as Naruto did, to encourage cheaters to look elsewhere. He saw that Suigetsu had folded his own paper in half and was sitting back in his chair with crossed arms. He looked irritated and more than ready to get on with the rest of the exams.

He didn't try to turn around and look at his other teammates, but he saw, with quick glances, that there was a great number of genin who had picked up on the idea of this first exam and were each finding ways to steal the answers from their brighter neighbors.

Naruto hid a grin by leaning forward and laying his head on his crossed arms on the table in front of him. He wouldn't try to go to sleep, but it might be good to make it seem like he was careless.

**xXx**

Sasuke was surprised to find that the first exam was exactly the same as it had been when he and team 7 had first taken it. He remembered cheating to take these exact same answers with his Sharingan before. Somehow he had thought it might have been at least the slightest bit different, but he was disappointed that the first exam wouldn't even present a challenge.

Ibiki was as imposing a figure as ever, but Sasuke found that the slight anxiety that had burned at the edges of his thoughts so many years ago was less than nonexistent now. He knew he could take down virtually any ninja in the room, including Ibiki himself. And he knew that his teammates could do the same.

So, instead of being anxious, he was excited, even with the disappointment that the first exam presented.

The exams had been passed out twenty minutes ago and all the rules, same as before, were explained. The introduction of a fourth part to the exam was a bit offsetting, but he could deal with that easily enough, he was sure.

He knew that he hadn't actually needed to answer any of the questions on the paper in front of him, but the perfectionist in him couldn't bear not to. When he saw the condensation forming on his pencil, and the image of a grinning Suigetsu from within, he just rolled his eyes and scribbled in the answers from his Sharingan's memory, not really bothering to even read the questions

He'd felt like an idiot when he'd first taken this exam, being forced to cheat to get the answers in the first place, but he realized now that, even without the Sharingan, he could have answered the questions quite easily. And now, others were cheating off of _him_! Or trying to, at least.

Thinking about it more, though, the feeling of disappointment he felt in the exam while most of the others in the room struggled to grasp even the simplest of the questions made him feel as if he didn't belong here. But then, that was true, wasn't it? He wasn't boasting when he said he was one of the strongest ninja in the world. He wondered idly what he was doing here, taking a little exam with a bunch of genin.

_But I'm a genin too, aren't I?_ He half-sneered to himself. _That's why I'm here. To earn recognition the right way._

He remembered one of the reasons they'd had for entering this exam and coming to Konoha; for him and Naruto to gain the rank of ninja that they deserved. But it really only hit him now. It was almost surreal, the fact that they were still genin. He honestly forgot about it most of the time, but when he remembered it, it stabbed at him. Making him regret ever being foolish enough to leave Konoha in the first place.

And the other reason he was here. Sure, he would love to foil Madara and Orochimaru's plans. He'd love to help find and help this Bijuu who had miraculously escaped Akatsuki's clutches. But there was only one other reason that could completely convince him to step into the heart of his hometown once again.

That reason was Naruto himself. The fact had already been proven once, months ago, when he'd rushed to stop Madara's trap. Now he was proving it again by coming to a place that had a signed death warrant out for every single member of Nigasu.

Naruto was the only man who could ever claim to be his best friend. For a long time, he'd been his only friend. Even when Sasuke had refused to see it. He would never be able to express his gratitude for the one great constant in his life. But he was sure Naruto knew that. The fact that Naruto had left Konoha for his sake only made him more grateful, and he'd do anything to pay back his debt to the man.

Sasuke shook himself mentally when he heard Ibiki finally begin to introduce the tenth question. He was surprised at himself. He didn't usually let his mind wander like that. And now was a time when he definitely shouldn't be dwelling on the past. After all, there was a mission to complete.

He scratched out a miniature Suna emblem on the sheet of paper before him and smiled as hell broke loose around him. Genin jumped up from their seats, again protesting the unfairness of the rules Ibiki had just added; he was sure he saw Suigetsu join them, rambunctiously playing the part of a furious genin. No one wanted to lose the chance to try for chuunin ever again. In five minutes, though, at least thirty teams left the room.

Ibiki then proceeded to announce that the remaining teams passed his portion of the chuunin exams. Fifteen people rose from their seats and walked over to join the proctors against the walls of the lecture hall and Ibiki explained the true purpose of the exam to those who were still clueless.

The moment Mitarashi Anko busted through the sole window of the room, Sasuke turned his head a little in the uproar that followed to meet the eyes of Naruto, who sat three rows behind him. The man was grinning and met his eyes immediately.

It was time to get to work.


	27. All's Fun 'til Someone Gets Hurt

**So, I'm really sorry for taking so long with this. School, work, and fanfiction do not mix well. :-( On the other hand, I think this is one of the longest chapter I've written for this story, so maybe that makes up for it a little. ^.^**

**And, because I'm sure half of you returning readers don't remember what's going on in this story, I'll try to give you an intelligible summary:**

**Right. To begin with, Madara attacked Naruto right after Pein gave his life to save all the ninja of konoha he'd killed. This is where this story diverges from the canon storyline. Sasuke does 'kill' Itachi, but he comes back to Konoha to save Naruto after Itachi tells him about Madara's plot to capture him. Sasuke gets captured instead, though Naruto develops his Kekkei Genkai at this time. Later Itachi and Jiraiya show up, surprisingly not dead, and plans are made to rescue Sasuke. However, Deidara, who is Itachi's partner, in all meanings of the word, easily rescues Sasuke from Madara and Orochimaru's (also surprisingly not dead) hideout. Before leaving to meet Sasuke, who contacted them by letter, the members of Nigasugakure (the Village Hidden in the Choice for those of you who've forgotten) find that Tsunade has, for some reason, declared that Sasuke will be killed if he returns to the village, even after helping them plan to rescue him. Leaving the village for good, supposedly, the ninja form Nigasugakure and begin to make big-scale plans.**

**After travelling and training for a while, Nigasu infiltrated the Chuunin exams under the guise of Suna teams, with Gaara's help. They are trying to find teams that Madara may have sent in, as Itachi remembered that there had been plans for another operation to attack Konoha from his time in Akatsuki. Naruto, using an ability given to him by his Kekkei Genkai, is disguising all the members of Nigasu so that they won't be recognized. This chapter covers some of the second portion of the Chuunin exams, which, up to this point, have not been changed from that of the first exam that Team 7 took. No infiltrators have been discovered. Yet. ^.^**

**Enjoy.**

**27**

This time, they were to be watched.

That's what Anko was saying, at least. She'd rubbed her neck at the same time, almost conscientiously, reminding Naruto and Sasuke of how Orochimaru had attacked her before coming after them; or so they'd heard afterward.

All the teams stood outside the fence that enclosed the Forest of Death. A few of the proctors stayed a while to watch the genin sweat out the wait for the next exam, laughing and chatting among themselves. Naruto's team, as well as Karin, Suigetsu, and Juugo stood together on the outskirts of the large group.

When Anko had first informed them of the change to the second portion of the exams, Nigasu had been rather disappointed. It wouldn't exactly be conducive to their plans to be watched twenty four seven. They wouldn't be able to move as freely as they wanted to if they were under the watch of ninja more skilled than genin.

But then, thankfully, Anko had clarified herself. Each of the participants of the exam was supposed to wear a bracelet that would monitor their pulse. If a pulse were to stop, ANBU would close around that location and monitor the situation. They wouldn't interfere though, unless it was an outsider doing the killing. Of course, the bracelet could be removed by its wearer without activating the signal for the ANBU, but they were all warned not to forfeit such protection.

That last bit made a few of the genin smile, and Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances. Any genin interested in killing were either experienced, crazy, or both. It was best to stay away from them, if only to keep their own experience a secret.

The teams were instructed to send their team leaders to the front and to line up to receive their scrolls. Itachi moved forward along with Juugo. The other four moved back to find a more secluded area; to talk and observe the other teams.

"So, what are we aiming for? Get to the tower as fast as possible or whittle away at the competition?" Karin asked as soon as Sasuke raised a silencing jutsu.

"The second." Naruto volunteered with a grin. "That way we can scout for Madara and Orochimaru's team. Or teams." He added the last as an afterthought, realizing that it was completely plausible for multiple teams to have been slipped in. After all, they'd already done it themselves.

"And we can see what it is that has Tsunade so worried that she has ANBU on call." Itachi said as he rejoined them.

"What scroll do we have?" Naruto asked. Itachi drew out a heaven scroll.

"We've been warned not to look in it until we are in the tower."

"Figures. Same deal as last time. Don't they have some imagination?" Naruto asked, rolling his eyes.

"Probably not." Suigetsu laughed. Juugo rejoined them and withdrew an Earth scroll without being asked.

Neither Itachi nor Juugo bothered hiding their scrolls. But they hadn't exactly shown them off, either. Only four or five of the teams had seen the motions, and they were already excitedly whispering plans of attack, it seemed. None of Nigasu missed this. In fact, they were marking these teams as targets already.

"So what's our strategy?" Suigetsu asked with his hands on his hips, clearly filled with energy and wanting _move_. They all turned to Itachi, waiting for their strategist to indulge them. He smirked, and their grins – which had already begun to appear – widened even more.

This part was going to be fun.

**xXx**

The two teams of Nigasu were released within thirty minutes of each other. The moment the gates opened, the two teams from Nigasu separated completely and scattered throughout the Forest of Death.

Itachi had set one of his many ravens in a tree not far from the tent where the team leaders had received their scrolls. From a great selection of easy pickings, he had selected the first two teams that would be their targets. These lucky teams had been particularly careless when walking out of the tent where they'd received their scrolls. Interestingly enough, Naruto had noted that both were genin teams from the Leaf.

Naruto hadn't recognized any of the members of either team, and neither had Sasuke, though that meant little when one considered how much time they'd actually spent with other ninja of the village. Regardless, Suigetsu and Juugo were sent to deal with them, one for each team.

Suigetsu had found the closest available water source and left to move through it to the other side of the forest, where his targets were still waiting to enter the forest. Juugo was in for an extensive search however, as his targets had been released before his own team had.

Karin had directed them to their targets before moving straight towards the tower. She would prepare traps for other genin who tried to do the same. Juugo would meet up with her as backup after dealing with his targets.

On the other, slightly more offensive side of things, Naruto, Sasuke, and Itachi would be picking off any and all teams they came upon for the next twelve hours. The rules of the second stage of the Chuunin exams required them to survive the place for five days. However, like last time, they had all been given the option of taking more scrolls than strictly necessary.

There were around two hundred ninja left; about seventy teams altogether. Even with the teams eliminated during the first exam gone, there were still far more teams than there had been during Team Seven's try at the Chuunin Exams. As a result, Nigasu was taking it upon themselves to use the second portion of the exam as a way to whittle away at competition and find the infiltration groups sent in by Madara.

Whereas most of the teams would stick together and plan ambushes to get specific scrolls, Nigasu's members were simply too strong to waste their time like that. It would be almost pitiful to go up against genin teams like that. Of course, there would probably be genin teams that were incredibly strong for their ages, like Gaara's team had been, or others who had excellent teamwork. These, Nigasu would simply ignore.

In addition to being able to whittle away at competition and search out infiltrators, they had one last reason to be splitting up.

Itachi said so.

Even now, Naruto smiled at the way Itachi had made an important mission- a part of the Chuunin exams even- into a training exercise. The Uchiha had wrapped the missions of a hunter-nin, seeking information, surveillance, and stealth all into this one part of the exam. Hell, he'd even thrown in a prize for the winner. He'd help whoever had the most scrolls by the end of the first twelve hours with any jutsu of their choosing, whether it be new or old. Not to mention, he would also let them skip any three days of his training that they wanted.

Also, if Itachi won…well, he'd yet to say what would happen then, but it would no doubt be bad for all their constitutions.

That was why Naruto found himself searching the southeastern corner of the Forest of Death. Karin would take the center of the forest, and with Juugo joining her after his targets were taken care of, that left the other three corners to Itachi, Sasuke, and Suigetsu. It was already an hour since his team had been released into the forest and Naruto figured that almost every team had been allowed in by now.

He had already found two especially low-leveled teams and simply pickpocketed their scrolls as they slept in shifts, hoping to save their energy for later on during the five days.

He now had two earth scrolls as a result.

He sent out ten clones to canvass the area and found three more teams, all in the same general vicinity. He settled down to wait for the inevitable conflict.

Then suddenly, he had an idea.

Itachi had warned the members of Nigasu not to draw attention to themselves by attacking multiple teams at once individually. It could easily break their cover. However, Itachi had never said anything about recreating their own teams.

Naruto grinned, He dispelled eight of his clones, leaving two back to pose as Itachi and Sasuke in their disguised forms. This done, Naruto moved forward through the trees with his clones, picking a spot that was high up so that he could view all the genin teams below him without fearing attack from above.

One team had obviously sensed the other two and was keeping back, like Naruto was. Through the leaves, Naruto recognized the ninja who had alerted his teammates to Itachi's silencing jutsu before the beginning of the first exam. Naruto grinned and turned his attention to the other two teams.

They were steadily moving towards each other, unaware of each other's presences. Their courses would have them meet just outside of a clearing about twenty feet to Naruto's right.

Naruto had his two clones circle around the three teams to keep an eye on their movements more closely. He sat in the treetops, maybe two hundred feet off the ground, his dangling over the edge of an oversized tree branch.

Minutes later, the two groups, as expected, discovered each other's presence. Suddenly, weapons were flying. The team closest Naruto was comprised of three girls from Konoha, which was odd, since there was normally the odd boy thrown in there somewhere. The lead girl was caught in the upper arm by a wildly thrown shuriken. She shrieked before she got enough sense through her mind to duck and find cover.

The other team had two boys and one girl, all three of whom had seen the first team before they'd seen them. But the other two girls of the first team reacted quickly, covering their wounded teammate with a sudden barrage of kunai, and, Naruto was surprised to see, senbon. Both teams retreated behind cover.

What followed was a typical battle of ninja. But it was the third team that really drew Naruto's attention. They had spread out to surround the two teams that were doing the fighting, setting traps up around a large perimeter. They still hadn't found him, but that wasn't surprising, considering the dressing down Itachi had given him once their group had formed Nigasugakure and had begun to train. Itachi had spent night and day forcing Naruto to control his chakra output, whether he was moving or not. As a pleasant side effect, it had become easier to gather natural chakra while moving as a result.

Naruto grinned and started a mental countdown while he observed the going-ons. The girl that had been injured looked to have passed out, which meant that the kunai had probably been poisoned, since it hadn't hit any lethal areas.

The fight going on below him would soon be over, from the looks of the combatants; they all looked exhausted already. The two girls were more worn down, though. Without their third member, they couldn't use many of their combination techniques, ones that a team like them would normally depend heavily upon. One of the boys of the second team was fighting one-armed, since it seemed as though one of his arms was heavily tangled in what looked like razor wire; the limb was quickly becoming drenched with blood.

His teammates relied more on jutsu than on taijutsu, though. Fire was being thrown constantly by the girl - small attacks combined with weapons that wouldn't tire her out quickly- and the boy stomped his foot into the ground every so often, hoping to unsettle his opponents with Earth jutsu.

In the end, the second team's constant attacks from cover won out. A girl from the other team yelled out a ceasefire, holding her hand out from behind a tree with the scroll held in it. Naruto saw the scroll – a heaven scroll – thrown to the other side of the small battle field. One of the two boys, the one with full use of both arms, picked it up and signaled to his team to retreat, having gotten what they needed.

That was when the third team struck.

From all sides, the members of the Cloud team surrounded the victor of the short fight and systematically knocked each one out. With the advantage of surprise on their side, this was done easily, and soon the members of the second team had been neatly searched. The members of the Cloud team, now two scrolls richer, largely ignored the two girls trying to tend to their poisoned comrade.

Naruto inched his was down the tree slowly, trying to hear what they said as they stood there.

"…need any more scrolls. Why don't we just head to the tower? I heard there's a record set for quickest time there. Why don't we try and break it?" The sole female of the team was saying. She was old for a genin taking the exam, as were her two partners; they were maybe fifteen or sixteen. Naruto guessed that this might not be the first time that they had participated. He didn't remember them from the last exam, but that didn't mean much.

The girl swiped back a piece of long hair that had escaped her pony tail from her face. Naruto thought she looked a lot like the girl from the Sound team that had attacked team seven in the last exam. Kin was her name, he remembered. But she seemed a bit more boyish and less attentive to feminine cares.

"No, we need to find those teams from Sand. They're dangerous if they plan to work together." This came from the ninja who apparently was trained in chakra sensing. The boy, though he looked nearly as aged as Iruka did, was kneeling and stretching, as if cooling down his muscles from the fight.

_Oh, are they talking about little ol' us?_ Naruto thought, amused.

"Come on, Sakari. If they really are that dangerous, we can't afford to fight them when we already have the scrolls we need. What do you think, Haku?" Naruto jumped when the other ninja spoke to the girl, calling her Haku. A picture of the boy he'd known all those years ago flashed before his mind, but there was no similarity in their features; it was simply a case of a common name.

Haku shook her head as she pocketed the two scrolls. "I think we should set up a camp and rest. Then we can think about it."

While the team was speaking, the two girls had managed to pick up their downed teammate and, with a cautious glance at the Cloud team, made their escape.

Naruto decided he should act just then, when the three agreed upon a course of action. When the three bent to gather extra weapons off the three, still-unconscious ninja, Naruto attack from three sides.

As kunai and shuriken shot out from the dark forest, courtesy of his clones, Naruto threw a paper bomb down, directly into the center of their little circle. The three Cloud ninja stared at it almost stupidly for a moment before the guy, Sakari, pushed his teammates back and away from the resulting explosion. Because he'd jumped over the paper bomb to do it, Sakari took the brunt of the explosion, which threw him halfway across the clearing.

Naruto's clones darted forwards, out of the forest, closing in on Haku and the third teammate, who got to their feet quickly with weapons in hand.

Haku was almost unnaturally fast, just like her namesake. She dodged every strike sent after her, though it wasn't without difficulty. His clone, which was disguised as Itachi, dealt with her slowly, getting used to her speed and slowly matching up with it, though he quickly found that the girl had a blade tied to the end of the hair gathered in a ponytail, and that she knew how to use it.

Her comrade was the same, almost reminding him of Neji with such smooth, elegant movements. Thankfully, he didn't fight with pressure points, because Naruto absolutely hated dealing with that fighting style. But the man was brutal and exact in his attacks. Naruto didn't want him or his clones to seem too strong, so he only spent the minimum amount of strength necessary to take them out.

"It's them. We need to retreat, Kohaku!" Sakari shouted, disrupting the fight by drawing the attention to himself.

The third boy, Kohaku, who was still fighting with his clone as if his teammate hadn't spoken, suddenly lashed out with a powerful backhand, catching his clone by surprise.

"Back out Haku! Sakari's right." He jumped back, dragging Haku with him. Naruto grinned, still in his hiding place in the trees. He waited until the two passed below him and then jumped down to interpose himself in between them. Burying his fist into Haku's stomach, driving her breath from her, and kicking Kohaku back and away from her, Naruto quickly found the three scrolls that the team held and deposited them into one of his pouches.

As he felt the two boys moving to attack his back, and Haku regaining her breath, Naruto turned and threw Haku bodily into the arms of Kohaku and Sakari. Brandishing one of the scrolls with a grin, Naruto basked in the shocked expressions of the team in front of him.

"I'll be taking this." Naruto then activated his father's jutsu, which would transport him to a kunai not far away from the clearing, and disappeared from their sight.

**xXx**

Sasuke had nine scrolls by the end of the six hour mark.

The southwestern end, which he had taken as his own area to "patrol", seemed less populated by ninja at the moment and more populated by disturbingly large, and decidedly dangerous, wildlife. If that hadn't been so, he would have had far more. He'd already taken out six teams, four of which had held only their own scroll. But two of them had been rather busy themselves; One had held two, and the other three.

Sasuke had mostly kept to the stealth end of Itachi's game, keeping to the shadows and catching his victims in genjutsu. He'd caught one scroll-keeper on a trip to empty his bladder, leaving him out cold for his teammates to find. It was only with the last team that he'd had to attack each member individually. They'd split their three scrolls among each member, in case a rival team decided to do just what Sasuke had.

They hadn't been counting on Sasuke's sheer efficiency in picking them off. Within five minutes, without so much as a single alarm raised, Sasuke stood looking down at the three unconscious ninja with a smug smirk on his face, three new scrolls in hand.

With the sigh of an overworked man, he set off for new prey.

**xXx**

Karin and Juugo only had three scrolls, including the one Juugo had brought in from the team he'd been sent after. Karin had caught two teams just an hour after she'd settled down to wait, and collected their scrolls without a sweat. But there hadn't been a hint of any more ninja since. They'd set up all the traps they thought necessary, but after three hours of waiting, even the patient Juugo couldn't handle the waiting any longer.

So, five hours into the twelve hour time limit, Karin and Juugo set about laying bait and herding some genin into their traps.

**xXx**

On the northwestern end, Suigetsu was raising hell.

No team could get close to any source of water without being attacked by sudden water bullets. And Suigetsu doggedly followed the teams that managed to escape from the barrage, though they could never quite figure out exactly who or what was following them, since Suigetsu could liquefy himself the moment they tried to get a glance of him.

Then, the bully that he was, he proceeded to knock them out the moment their backs were turned, smacking the backs of their necks with the blunt edge of his sword. He then proceeded to gather their scrolls and make his way back to the little stream he had claimed all his own.

By the time seven hours had passed, he held eleven scrolls.

And he was beginning to get a little hungry.

**xXx**

Itachi laid back in the crotch of an ancient tree, his eyes covered by his eyelids, but darting around as though he were watching scenes flicker constantly back and forth.

His ravens had been dispersed all over the Forest of Death, watching over his comrades and searching out the imposters that had likely been planted by Madara. What they saw was being sent back to him to sort out. It was like sorting out the signals from hundreds of eyes, but Itachi was used to it.

He was amused to see that his game was being enjoyed by his teammates, even if they were working overly hard just to avoid what might happen if Itachi himself won the game. But, no, he wasn't planning on taking part.

Every good trainer needs to take a break once in a while to admire his work, after all.

**Well? What do you think? Still okay after all this time?**


End file.
